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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Ct)e Clmrcl) in earnest 



"Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them 
stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations; spare 
not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; 
for thou shall break forth on the right hand and on 
the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and 
make the desolate cities to be inhabited. Fear not; 
for $iou shall not be ashamed." — {Isa. 54:2-4.) 



The Church in 
Earnest 



A CALL FOR THE TRAIN- 
ING NECESSARY FOR 
WORLD ACHIEVEMENTS 



A Word of Preparation by 

Edited by 

General Secretary 
Of the Foreign Missionary Society 



The Foreign Missionary Society of the 

United Brethren in Christ 

Dayton, Ohio 



jK. 






IGRESS 

Two Copies Received 

NOV 2 1908 

Copyright Entry 
GLASS OW XXC, Mo, I 

copy >■ J 



Copyright, 1908, by 

The Foreign Missionary Society of the 

United Brethren in Christ 

Dayton, Ohio 



a 2x3orD of preparation 

The demand of the hour is for the awakening 
and training of the local churches in efficient, 
broad service. There must be knowledge, vision, 
and enthusiasm; but we dare not stop with these. 
The awakened life must be led into practical serv- 
ice and be trained to do the full will of God. 

This volume is the best and most sane treat- 
ment of the aims, organization, instruction, and 
training necessary to make each church a world 
force, that has yet appeared in our denomination. 
Each of the ten chapters is written by an expert, 
who has tested in practical experience what he pre- 
sents. The church is ripe for the message this book 
brings, and every pastor ought to possess a copy at 
once, and study it closely for the suggestions and 
enrichment it will bring not only to his own per- 
sonal life, but also to his public ministry. The 
output of power from our local churches could 
doubtless be doubled at once if the teachers and 
officials would study this book, and put its sug- 
gestions and methods into practice. 

The world is perishing for lack of- knowledge. 
The church is God's only agency for the advance- 
v 



ment of the kingdom in the world; but the church 
is weak and blundering, without clear and full 
light. Nothing but a world-wide vision of the 
work and mission of Jesus Christ will quicken the 
heart of the church and fill her with the enthusi- 
asm necessary for the largest development of her 
own life, and the most speedy conquest of the world 
for Christ. 

This volume will help mightily in reaching this 
goal. Give ear, every member of the local church; 
obey God, honor Christ, and carry or send the 
gospel to every creature for whom he died. 

(Bishop) G. M. Mathews. 

Chicago, III., August b, 1908. 



Contents 



Chapter Page 

I. The Grace That Enlarges 

Rev. J. S. Kendall .... 9 

II. The Awakening of the Men of America 
to Save the World 

Rev. J. G. Huber 18 

III. A Fourfold Advance for Foreign Missions 

Rev. C. M. Roby 27 

IV. The Missionary Opportunity of the 

Sunday School 

Prof. W. G. Clipping er 38 

V. The Mission Study Class, An Indispen- 
sable Agency 

Rev. J. Edgar Knipp 48 

VI. The Conference Foreign Missionary 
Committee An Essential Link 

Rev. S. F. Daugherty 57 

VII. An Efficient Missionary Committee 
in Each Local Church 

Rev. L. Walter Lutz 68 

VIII. How May a Presiding Elder Make 
His District a World Force 
Rev. C. W. Kurtz ... 79 

IX. The Pastor the Pivotal Man 

Rev. G. D. Batdorf ... 87 

X. Prayer the Supreme Factor 

Secretary S. S. Hough 98 

Sppentuce* 

A. The Weekly Offering for Benevo- 

lences, AND FOR THE LOCAL NEEDS 109 

B. Helpful Missionary Books and Supplies 122 

vii 



W&t (Brace ^fiat (Enlarges 

Rev. J. S. Kendall, Cleveland, Ohio 



The efficiency of the Church of Jesus Christ 
depends on the strength of her individual 
members. This being true, every child of Goa 
should be anxious to meet every condition 
that will lead to his largest development 
and most fruitful service. Many sources of 
strength stand out prominently in the Word 
of God for the enlargement of the believer's 
life. 

/ wish here to call special attention to the 
grace of liberality or giving as a source of 
strength. It may be difficult for some minds 
to comprehend how liberality can become a 
source of power. I am satisfied that if we 
will stay close to the Word of God and 
accept its teachings on this, as on other mat- 
ters of revelation, we shall be led to recog- 
nize this great truth. 

There are many things that are indisputable 
in nature, in science, and in religion ; things 
that I cannot fully understand, but they are 



The Church in Earnest 

facts nevertheless. When Jesus declared the 
necessity of the new birth to Nicodemus, he 
did not give its philosophy, nor did he give a 
very comprehensive answer. He only declared 
it to be a fact. 

It should be enough for us when His 
omniscience declares that liberality is a grace, 
and that by exercising therein it does lead to 
the development of the believer. But there ■ 
are reasons that we can discern for the state- 
ment that giving is a means of grace. We 
desire to set forth a few of them. 

I. How Liberality Becomes a Grace 

The apostle in II. Cor. 8:7, in speaking of 
it, classes giving with other graces, such as 
faith, utterance, knowledge, diligence, and 
love, and he says, "As ye abound in these, see 
that ye abound in this grace [liberality] also." 
I can point out only a few general principles 
and then trust you to search for others. I 
contend that liberality becomes a grace 

1. Because it destroys selfishness. There 
is nothing that so dwarfs the soul and hinders 
the growth of the individual in the spiritual 
life as selfishness. Jesus taught that to be- 
come his disciples we had to deny self; and 

10 



The Grace That Enlarges 

experience has taught us that to live a life of 
fellowship with him we must live a life of 
self-denial. There is no channel through 
which the average man can put self to death 
and destroy selfishness more quickly than by 
the liberal giving of his means. 

2. It develops love. Where our treasures 
are, there will our hearts be also ; or, in other 
words, where our investments are, there will 
be our love and hearts' affections. If money 
is myself, as Doctor Schauffler states, then 
where our money is invested we are person- 
ally invested, and as we invest ourselves in 
any cause there is a growing love for that 
cause. It was this that moved J. Hudson 
Taylor in the declining days of his life to 
long for China. It was the giving of fifty 
years of his life to that people that produced 
that deep love for them. It was the giving of 
life and service in the defense of the flag that 
caused such deep love for the Stars and 
Stripes in the hearts of the old veterans. And 
as we give bountifully, whether it be in service 
or means, for the cause of Christ, it will in- 
crease our love for him and the cause for 
which he laid down his life. 

3. Liberality has pozver to multiply the 

11 



The Church in Earnest 

service of the individual. We can go with our 
money where we cannot go in person. It can 
toil for us in avenues in which we are unfitted 
and unqualified; it can speak all languages 
and do all kinds of service ; it can minister to 
all conditions of life. With it we can per- 
petuate the activities of our lives ; can educate 
and train workers ; can provide medicine and 
physician for those in dire need; can build 
churches and endow schools; can put in 
motion influences and activities that will con- 
tinue when we are unable to serve. 

It has been the writer's privilege, through 
the little entrusted to him to labor in Africa, 
China, Japan, and the islands of the sea. No 
greater joy ever came to my own heart than 
when we received the tidings that through our 
individual offerings workers were able, in far- 
off lands, to bring into the fellowship of our 
Lord Jesus Christ precious souls out of 
heathen darkness. 

4. It leads to prayer and thanksgiving. As 
our investments are made in the cause of the 
kingdom, our prayers will increase in fer- 
vency and power for that kingdom. When 
the home church will give of its life and sub- 
stance for extending the kingdom into the 

12 



The Grace That Enlarges 

regions beyond, it will then be led to greater 
service in prayer for those parts. Hear Paul 
in II. Cor. 9:11: "Ye being enriched in 
everything unto all liberality, which worketh 
through us thanksgiving to God.'' As we be- 
gin to praise, we shall begin to enlarge and 
grow in strength. 

Again, it will cause the benefactors to cry 
unto God for us. See II. Cor. 9: 12-14 (R. 
V.) : "For the ministration of this service 
not only filleth up the measure of the wants of 
the saints, but aboundeth also through many 
thanksgivings unto God ; seeing that through 
the proving of you by this ministration they 
glorify God for the obedience of your confes- 
sion unto the gospel of Christ, and for the 
liberality of your contribution unto them and 
unto all ; while they themselves also, with sup- 
plication on your behalf, long after you by 
reason of the exceeding grace of God in you." 

II. The Method by which Giving Becomes a 
Means of Grace 

If we desire to have our giving a source of 
strength we will have to adopt such methods 
of giving as will make God a real factor in 
our daily business. I am sure that God intends 

13 



The Church in Earnest 

that man's employment shall be to him an aid 
in his spiritual life. We know that the present 
tendency to money-getting tends to divorce 
many from God, but this should not be so. I 
am persuaded that when we get a proper 
vision of the relation of our lives and sub- 
stance to the kingdom of God, that farming, 
or trading, or honest labor of any kind will 
deepen and quicken the spiritual life. 

The Bible plainly says that the Lord be- 
comes a partner with him who gives the whole 
tithe unto God. We know that a strong and 
wicked partner is a power for evil; and, on 
the contrary, we are sure that a strong and 
righteous partner is a power for good. By the 
giving of the tithe God becomes a partner 
with us and thereby hallows our business, 
making it as much a means of grace to us as 
prayer and Bible study. Let it be remembered 
that the law of the sacred tithe is the defi- 
nitely-appointed plan of bringing the holy God 
into our secular life, thereby making business 
sacred. 

The giving of the tithe is a most logical 
argument for growth in grace, for it brings 
at once the individual to the observance of the 
essential principles of growth — it puts God 

14 



The Grace That Enlarges 

first. It means that the worshiper brings one- 
tenth of his harvest, or the proceeds of his 
business or labor, first to the Lord before he 
takes aught for himself. Many are apt to 
make giving correspond with spiritual bless- 
ings, but God puts it the other way ; he 
makes the spiritual blessings depend on the 
right use of our substance. See Prov. 3 : 9, 
10; Mai. 3:10; Luke 6:38. 

As we trace Israel's decline, the first step 
away from God seems to have been the with- 
holding of tithes and offerings. In the re- 
vivals that brought them back to God, one of 
the essential conditions mentioned was that of 
honoring the Lord with their substance. The 
people of Hezekiah's day recognized their sin- 
ful condition, and they put away the evil of 
their doings and brought into the house of the 
Lord "in abundance the first fruits of grain 
. . . and tithes of all things brought they in 
abundantly." II. Chron. 31:5. As a result, 
the priest Azariah said: "Since the people 
began to bring the offerings into the house of 
the Lord we have had enough to eat, and 
have left plenty, for the Lord has blessed his 
people." 

To be sure, the tithe is the least amount we 

15 



The Church in Earnest 

owe the Lord. Some should give, in addition 
to the first tenth, many times that amount in 
free-will offerings to meet the unparalleled 
needs of the present world-cry for the bread 
of life. 

The greatest revival promise in the Bible is 
contained in this : "Bring ye all the tithes 
into the storehouse . . . and prove me now 
herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will 
not open you the windows of heaven and pour 
you out a blessing that there shall not be 
room enough to receive it." We are praying 
for the revival. Why not meet the condition ? 
We have here in the prophet's declaration the 
assurance that the key for spiritual enlarge- 
ment is in our own hand. The many promises 
of the Word of God on this subject have lost 
none of their efficacy. The truth that "the 
liberal soul shall be made fat" is just as sure 
and powerful to-day as when first spoken. 

We are confident that liberality does destroy 
selfishness ; it promotes love ; it greatly extends 
the working power of a life, and it leads to 
definite prayer and praise. There are ten 
thousand witnesses that have tested and 
proven the fact that partnership with God, 
as indicated here, is a sure guarantee for spir- 

16 



The Grace That Enlarges 

itual enlargement and victory. Reader, will 
you abound in this grace also, and prove your 
glorious Lord, that the richness and fullness 
of his blessings may come to you, and through 
you to others? 



17 



W$t fttoaftnunff of t&e 9®tn of America 
to Smta tge afliorln 

Rev. J. G. Huber, DJD., Dayton, Ohio 



This subject implies two things: First, that 
the world is not yet evangelized. After nine- 
teen hundred years of preaching, the message 
of salvation has not yet reached all the nations 
of the earth. Millions are still living in dark- 
ness. As we look upon the great continents 
outside of Europe and North America, it 
seems that only the rims have been touched. 

The subject signifies, also, that the men 
composing a large portion of the Christian 
church have not been awake. An eminent 
English bishop not long since said of the men 
of his country, that while they were "inter- 
ested partners, they were sleeping partners." 
Is not this sadly true of the men in our own 
land? Must we not face the fact that the 
physically strongest portion of the church, the 
wealth-creating and controlling part of the 
church, has been asleep with reference to the 
world-wide spread of the gospel? 

18 



The Awakening of the Men 

Napoleon once said of China, "When she is 
moved, she will move the world; therefore let 
her sleep." Of the men of the church it may 
well be said, "When they are moved, they will 
move the world ; therefore let them awake." 
"Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from 
the dead and Christ shall give thee light." 
"Awake, awake, put on thy strength." 

Two factors are fundamental in the awak- 
ening of men for the salvation of the world: 
First, the relation of the men to Christ 
himself as Savior and Master ; his supremacy 
over their hearts, their plans, and their posses- 
sions. Once again the man of Galilee is walk- 
ing through the world, asking men to give 
him first place. He is calling men to prayer, 
and to strong, clear-voiced testimony for him. 
Should not the men of our Church come into 
a closer and more joyous fellowship with 
Christ and then press forward in a positive 
and irresistible Christian life ? 

The second fundamental is for the men of 
the church to see the world's needs. How 
often the eyes of Jesus must have scanned the 
wide horizon from the high ridge back of 
Nazareth! And did he not think of the race 
lying in darkness, and the need of his gospel 

19 



The Church in Earnest 

bearing light to all the world ? Would that all 
of the men of our Church might to-day stand 
with Christ at some such altitude and, while 
seeing the world's need, catch the inspiration 
of meeting it ! One who has traveled in 
heathen lands may shut his eyes and have 
pass before him countless throngs of men, 
well-formed, capable men, who have never 
had a chance of knowing Christ, passing 
blindly on in life. There are multitudes of 
such in our own mission fields. The men of 
Europe and of our land have a commercial 
interest in Porto Rico, Africa, India, China, 
and Japan. But should their interest be only 
a selfish one? Should it not go deeper than 
what they can get out of those lands? 

A little while ago, when the conflict was on 
in Xew York State between Governor Hughes 
and the race-track gamblers, the latter de- 
clared that to abolish race-track gambling 
would lower the pedigree of our horses. The 
governor manfully replied, "This country is 
not so much interested in the pedigree of its 
horses as in the pedigree of its men." When 
the men of Christian lands see the world's 
need as Christ saw it, they will have less con- 
cern for the material resources and trade out- 

20 



The Awakening of the Men 

put of heathen lands and a far deeper concern 
for the millions of men who, with their wives 
and children, are without a Savior. 

But what are the signs of an awakening 
among the men ? 

1. The Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion is giving a sweeping vision to its men, 
and is planting magnificent associations in the 
cities of the Orient. When, a few years since, 
a company of forty or fifty picked Associa- 
tion men met in New York City to define the 
four essentials of Association work, foreign 
missions was placed on the list. 

At the World's Jubilee of the Y. M. C. A., 
held in London, Hon. John Wanamaker de- 
clared: "There is not such a thing as a 
stranger or foreigner any longer in this world. 
We have learned how small the world is, how 
near together it is, and how possible it is for 
its races to be converted to God." Such an 
utterance from so eminent an American lay- 
man is significant both of the spirit of the 
Y. M. C. A. and the rising missionary tide 
among the men in our land. 

2. The deputations of strong business 
men, visiting mission fields under the direction 
of our church boards. It was hoped that 

21 



The Church in Earnest 

during the last half of 1907 and the first half 
of 1908 at least fifty men would make such 
tours of inspection. But instead of fifty, 
nearly double that number went out at their 
own expense ! Among them were four lay- 
men of our own Church. All these were con- 
vinced of the value, power, and permanency 
of missionary effort. They returned with a 
deepened sense of responsibility. 

On April 20, 1908, Hon. William H. Taft, 
in a great address before the Laymen's Mis- 
sionary Movement in Carnegie Hall, New 
York City, asserted, "We have got to wake 
this country up to the fact that there are 
other people in the world besides us, people 
who have been thrust upon us and who need 
our time, money, and help." "The biggest 
work in the world should be done in the 
biggest manner in the world by the biggest 
men in the world." Should not the testimony 
of laymen have great weight with the men of 
America ? 

3. Men's foreign missionary conventions 
have exceeded all expectations for attendance 
and power. The men of the Presbyterian 
Church have held two great conventions and 
also have pledged themselves to a standard 

22 



The Awakening of the Men 

of five dollars per member for foreign mis- 
sions. The men of the Methodist Church 
South and of the United Presbyterian Church 
have decided upon similar increases. Will 
not the men of our United Brethren Church 
follow these splendid examples? If the men 
of Korea will come together in groups of 
hundreds for the study of the newly-found 
Word of God, and then scatter out to teach 
their fellow-countrymen, is it not time for the 
men of Christian lands to cease playing at 
missions and do the world-work of the king- 
dom with the energy and upon the scale its 
importance demands? 

4. Laymen's forward campaigns in our 
chief cities constitute another factor in arous- 
ing the men of our country. The plan of 
operation is for a vigorous interdenomina- 
tional committee to bring the question of for- 
eign missions directly to the men through 
meetings in the different churches. After 
weeks of this kind of work, great mass meet- 
ings are planned for a period of days, 
addressed by forceful speakers from abroad. 
A certain sum is fixed as the aim for the com- 
bined effort of all the churches in the city. 
Then each denomination takes its portion of 

23 



The Church in Earnest 

the whole amount and plans to reach it in one 
or more years. Denominational assessments 
and standards are left behind when the men 
really lay their hands upon the task of mak- 
ing Jesus King throughout the earth. 

The movement was begun in October, 1907. 
During the first six months, twenty-two cities 
in the United States and Canada were 
reached. In fifteen cities of the United States, 
containing a total population of 2,546,000, the 
number of communicant church-members was 
310,585. They gave to religious work in 
America last year $5,405,500, and to similar 
work abroad $297,450. As a result of these 
missionary campaigns, they have decided to 
undertake to raise a total of $1,175,000 an- 
nually for foreign Christian work, an aggre- 
gate increase of $877,550. 

During the same period, seven cities in 
Canada, with a combined population of 950,- 
000, and reporting 136,818 Protestant church- 
members, gave last year to local Christian 
work $2,043,775, and to home and foreign 
missions $344,537. They voted to undertake 
an offering of $997,000 to all missionary pur- 
poses, an increase of $632,000. The total in- 

24 



The Awakening of the Men 

crease pledged by 447,403 church-members in 
the twenty-two cities is $1,510,000. 

It has been perfectly evident to those 
actively identified with these campaigns that 
God has been at work in a most wonderful 
way. The conviction is deepening and spread- 
ing that we are in the final campaign of the 
world's conquest for Christ. When business 
men will say, "I would rather save a million 
men than save a million dollars/' the coveted 
end is not far distant. 

The greatest physical undertaking of the 
last century was the building of the Panama 
Canal. The French wasted millions of money 
and a countless number of lives, and finally 
abandoned the task as an utter failure. The 
Americans undertook it. One by one impos- 
sibilities fled. Under the tropical sun the 
work is going forward to a speedy and 
glorious completion. 

It will be so with Christian missions, when 
our American men become thoroughly en- 
listed. The men of America, with the Man 
of Galilee, can save the world. The task is 
stupendous ; but they have the means, the 
talent, and the energy. When once they have 

25 



The Church in Earnest 

the vision and all-consuming passion of their 
Leader, it will be speedily accomplished. 

Our growing men's classes and brother- 
hoods are bringing thousands of men under 
the influence of the Bible. Vast numbers of 
these will be led to Christ and into our 
Church. They will unite their strength with 
that of their brethren in taking the responsi- 
bilities of our local churches. But should they 
not have an aim, a grand objective beyond 
this — an objective that will command their 
prayers, their support, and their service ; an 
objective that includes the capture of this 
whole country, and the world for Christ? 



26 



SL jfouttolti a&bance for jFomgn 

Rev. U. M. Roby, Barberton, Ohio 



A brief survey of the scope and nature of 
the work which the Society is obliged to do, 
will make it clear that our Foreign Mission- 
ary Society needs at once a fourfold advance 
in gifts from the home Church, or an income 
of two hundred thousand dollars annually. 

The Society is responsible for the evangel- 
ization of at least one million heathen souls in 
the fields in which it is now at work, and one 
million five hundred thousand more, terri- 
torially belonging to us, because of the fact 
that in West Africa, east of the field in which 
we are operating, no other churches are at 
work for more than eight hundred miles 
throughout that whole region. These mil- 
lions bring to our Church the Macedonian 
cry for the bread of life. 

A Wide Range of Work to be Done 

In reference to the nature of the work, this 
needs to be said : The Foreign Missionary So- 

27 



The Church in Earnest 

ciety does the work, so far as it is done in the 
foreign fields, that several societies do in the 
home land. That is, the Society must sup- 
port its missionaries, and native workers in 
large part; organize Sunday schools and 
churches ; build chapels, churches, schools, 
and missionary residences, and maintain the 
same until such time as the work shall become 
in part or wholly self-supporting. In addi- 
tion, academies and training-schools must be 
erected and equipped for the training of native 
workers ; printing-presses are needed, and 
medical missionaries must be sent out, and 
dispensaries and hospitals established, and 
manual-training and industrial agencies main- 
tained. 

The magnitude of the tasks to be performed 
in our foreign fields can be more fully appre- 
ciated when we remember that the work has 
to be carried forward against false religions, 
gross ignorance and superstition, and in lands 
where the climate is unhealthful, and where 
new languages must be learned, and the whole 
work must be done at a long distance from 
the base of supplies. 

The present is probably the most critical 
period in the entire history of our foreign mis- 

28 



A Fourfold Advance 

sionary work. God has wonderfully blessed 
the seed sown. As a Church we have now a 
good number of the best type of trained mis- 
sionaries on the field. A large number of effi- 
cient ordained native ministers are being pre- 
pared. The outlook is full of hope. This is 
the moment of supreme opportunity for the 
home churches to press the battle vigorously. 
Just now the need for chapels, schools, and 
other equipment is extremely great. A lay- 
man who made a tour of the mission fields of 
the world a few months ago, sent the follow- 
ing burning message to the home church: 

"Cannot you say something, or do some- 
thing, to make the church in America realize 
that just now is the Christian opportunity of 
centuries? The situation is extraordinary. 
If the Christian church has any conception of 
strategy, any appreciation of an opportunity, 
any sense of relative values, she will act at 
once ; not next year, but now. 3 ' 

The reports from those who have just re- 
turned from our own foreign fields show that 
we need this year one hundred thousand dol- 
lars for school-buildings, chapels, churches, 
and missionary residences, to say nothing of 
the other departments of the work. The chal- 

29 



The Church in Earnest 

lenge for a fourfold advance is thus squarely 
before every pastor and local church of our 
denomination. 

How Secure Two Hundred Thousand Dollars 
Annually ? 

We come now to consider one of the vital 
problems of our denomination ; namely, How 
is the annual income of two hundred thousand 
dollars for the Foreign Missionary Society to 
be secured? Logically, we ask, "Can it be 
secured?" To answer this question a knowl- 
edge of the financial resources and of the 
spirit of our Church is necessary. We are 
not a wealthy Church. We have few mil- 
lionaires, but as a Church we have some 
means at our command. We have many who 
are comparatively well-to-do, and a very large 
number of our people are wage-earners. 
When all the members of the Church give as 
they are able, in a regular, systematic way, 
we do not hesitate to say that it is well within 
our ability to meet this need. 

Our splendid increase in offerings to for- 
eign missions during the last few years, when 
not more than half of our people made any 
contribution at all, should be an inspiration 

30 



A Fourfold Advance 

to attempt at once this larger aim. In three 
years' time the offerings have increased from 
$24,400 to over $52,800 annually for the For- 
eign Missionary Society. The total receipts 
for foreign missions, including the offerings 
from the Woman's Missionary Association 
for the last Board year (ending April, 1908), 
amounted to $91,856.32, an average of thirty- 
four cents per member for the denomination. 
While this is better than some of the other 
churches have done, it is far below what the 
most wide-awake, aggressive denominations 
are doing for world-wide missions. The 
Methodist Episcopal Church last year gave 
$2,094,410 to foreign missions, an average of 
sixty-eight cents per member; the United 
Presbyterian Church gave $261,693, an aver- 
age of $2.04 per member ; the Baptist Church 
North, $915,000, an average of sixty-one 
cents per member; and the Presbyterian 
Church gave $1,347,000, an average of one 
dollar per member. And every one of these 
denominations is aiming at a large advance 
for the coming year. 

When we remember that an average of but 
one dollar per member for our whole denom- 
ination would give to the Foreign Missionary 

31 



The Church in Earnest 

Society its two hundred thousand dollars 
annually, and in addition provide for a good 
increase in the gifts of the Woman's Mission- 
ary Association, who can doubt that this can 
be done, and ought soon to become an accom- 
plished fact? 

The Spirit of Our Church Lends Encourage- 
ment 

I need scarcely speak of the spirit of our 
Church in the matter of missions. The large 
number of classes that are studying foreign 
missions, and the recent arousing of the 
strong forces too long dormant; the remark- 
able awakening of the men of the Church ; 
the coming of the broader vision, and the 
keeping step with world-wide movements, 
should convince any one that the United 
Brethren Church is missionary in spirit and 
purpose. I believe in God ; I believe in the 
genius and spirit of our Church; I believe in 
our people. We have the resources, we have 
the spirit, we have seen why we ought to do 
it, but as yet many of our pastors and local 
leaders do not know how to do it, and herein 
lies our weakness. Tell the pastors and people 
of the United Brethren Church what they 
ought to do, and why they should do it ; 

32 



A Fourfold Advance 

bring them the larger demands, but bring 
with these some system or plan which can be 
worked intelligently and conscientiously, and 
do not hesitate to say that, within a few years, 
we shall have an annual income of $200,000 
and more for the Foreign Missionary Society. 

An Interest- Creating Campaign Necessary 

I do not wish to be misunderstood at this 
point. A constantly-increasing emphasis must 
be put on the educational and interest-creating 
work of the Society in the home land. A 
great interest must not only be aroused, but 
maintained, if we are to reach our goal — an 
interest so great as to grip every member, 
from the cradle-roll of our Sunday schools to 
the official boards of our congregations and 
the governing bodies of our denomination — 
an interest that will make the giving of the 
gospel to every creature the supreme business 
of every church. This interest can be created: 

First, by the presiding elder and pastors in 
each annual conference co-operating with the 
Foreign Missionary Committee and the gen- 
eral secretaries in educational and inspira- 
tional missionary institutes, thus bringing the 
freshest information and best-approved meth- 



The Church in Earnest 

ods into the very life of every pastor, who in 
turn must bring the same to his people. Syste- 
matic instruction in the Sunday school and 
Young People's societies must be introduced 
and developed more thoroughly, and foreign 
mission study classes must be organized and 
missionary literature placed within the reach 
of all. All this is absolutely necessary and 
imperative. 

Second, this interest can be created by 
placing before our people a definite aim. That 
aim must not only be definite, but also large. 
The people must know just what is expected, 
and that which is expected must be sufficiently 
large to be thought worthy of their considera- 
tion. "If the prophet had bid thee do some 
great thing, wouldst thou not have done it?" 
We make a mistake when we fail to bring 
before our people the challenge of the difficult. 
A man's spirit rises up to do a man's work, 
but it will sleep on if the attempt is made to 
interest it in a child's undertaking or in child- 
ish methods of doing things. There is some- 
thing in the human spirit which causes it to 
rise and do the seemingly impossible, when it 
realizes that this is the proper thing to do. 

We can have men of the United Brethren 

34 



A Fourfold Advance 

Church follow us as the old guard followed 
Napoleon, if we set world tasks before them. 
The members of the United Brethren Church 
will flock to our standard as did the youth of 
Italy to the standard of the great liberator, if 
the appeal is to the heroic and to the spirit of 
self-giving ; but it is useless to say to our peo- 
ple, "There will be no Alps," and attempt to 
thrill them in every fiber of their being by a 
passionate appeal, and at the same time set 
before them the insignificant goal of an aver- 
age of fifty cents or twenty-five cents per 
member, as their contribution toward the 
accomplishment of the mightiest undertaking 
of all the centuries. 

A Definite System of Offerings 

We come at last to a definite and compre- 
hensive system of offerings. After the infor- 
mation has been given, after the interest has 
been created, there must still be a system of 
offerings that will reach the largest number of 
our people, and reach them in a way that will 
insure the greatest possible increase. Steam 
and enthusiasm will avail but little unless 
there be a judiciously-placed and well-ballast- 
ed track. 

35 



The Church in Earnest 

It is with no thought of criticising methods 
which have had their legitimate place, that we 
say that now we have too many co-ordinate 
interests — too many solicitors with equal and 
ofttime conflicting claims, and that as pas- 
tors and people we are confused by too many 
appeals. 

Why not, in securing the benevolences for 
our Church, include all the interests in two or 
three logical, well-defined departments ; elim- 
inating all artificial and overlapping divisions 
and doing away with oft-repeated and hurried 
canvasses which spoil what would be, with 
proper cultivation, increasingly productive 
territory? Such combination, followed by 
clear and forceful presentation, and a careful 
canvass for subscriptions that shall register 
the weekly amount (according to I. Cor. 16: 
2) that each man, woman, and child who is a 
member of the Church is willing to give to 
meet all the claims of the local church for the 
year, will result in largely-increased offerings 
for every department of the work. Such a 
system is business-like and scriptural ; it will 
appeal to the best Christian business men of 
the community, and it will develop likewise, 

36 



A Fourfold Advance 

as no other system can, the spirit of worship- 
ful giving. 

If the carrying of the gospel to every crea- 
ture is of pressing and supreme importance, 
is it not high time to introduce a method of 
giving that will bring up every essential 
department of the Church, and at the same 
time be adaquate to meet the needs of world- 
wide missions? 

We have dishonored the men, and over- 
looked that which no amateur in politics or 
statecraft would dare to ignore, by putting 
too much emphasis upon our penny collections 
and mite-boxes and the insignificant tasks we 
have called them to. Many of our men can, 
and will give from one hundred to five hun- 
dred dollars annually to the cause of foreign 
missions when they see its real significance. 
Hundreds and thousands of others will be 
glad to bring their fifty cents a week or one 
dollar a week for this great work. If we 
give our men men's work to do, we shall 
not find them wanting. Two hundred thou- 
sand dollars annually for the Foreign Mis- 
sionary Society will do for a beginning. 



37 



W&t S^tegrtonatp flDppottumt? of tfie 

feunDap school 

Rev. W. G. Clippinger, A.M., 

Professor in Union Biblical Seminary 



Two questions at once arise when missions 
in the Sunday school are suggested: First, 
Should missions be taught in the Sunday 
school? Second, Can missions be taught in 
the Sunday school? Logically, an answer to 
the first question should imply and compre- 
hend an answer to the second. 

Before proceeding to a consideration of 
these two topics, it will be well for us to have 
a clear conception of what we mean by mis- 
sions. Let it be understood in the beginning 
that unless the broadest and most biblical 
aspect of world-wide evangelization be ac- 
cepted as a working basis, the effort will, in 
both theory and practice, defeat its own end 
and purpose. So when I speak of missions, 
I do not mean so-called "foreign missions" or 
"home missions." These terms may be neces- 
sary for purposes of administrative distinc- 

38 



Opportunities of the Sunday School 

tion, but the further removed from the mind 
of the child, the better. 

Let missions — the gospel to the whole crea- 
tion — be the ideal, but let us be sure that in 
the interpretation and application of Jesus' 
command we get the conception he intended 
us to have regarding both the message and 
the field of missions. 

I. Should Missions be Taught in the Sunday 
School ? 

1. Missions should be taught because in 
the Sunday school the greatest number can be 
reached. The gospel, which is the message, 
is world-wide. Xot only in its objective ap- 
plication, but it is likewise world-wide sub- 
jectively; that is, it is impossible that all 
unbelievers know the gospel unless all be- 
lievers know their need and know the fullest 
significance of the gospel in its application to 
the unsaved. In other words, the gospel can 
never be made known to all the world until all 
Christians themselves have the fullest concep- 
tion of its message and of the need of the un- 
saved. The Sunday school, therefore, is the 
largest medium by which and through which 
this end can be accomplished. There are in 
most communities more persons in the Sun- 

39 



The Church in Earnest 

day school, and there oftener, than in any 
other church organization or gathering. 

By introducing missions in the Sunday 
school, the ideal situation will be reached — 
that of instruction and training for an entire 
congregation. 

2. Missions should be taught in the Sun- 
day school because it represents ideally and, 
in fact, the educational institution of the 
church. It includes all classes, the church- 
member and the non-church-member; the old 
and the young; the high and the low in social 
rank. Let me say again that the gospel will 
never be sent to everybody until everybody is 
sending the gospel. In the Sunday school, 
therefore, we discover the quickest and surest 
means of reaching this ideal. Persons will 
never give to missions, or act for missions, 
until they know about missions. 

Some have urged that the Sunday school is 
a Bible school, and that only Bible truth 
should be taught ; but the Bible is the greatest 
book in the world on the history and progress 
of missions. Missions is the Bible in action. 

Missions should, therefore, be taught, first, 
for the sake of the child himself — for his per- 
sonal development ; second, for the sake of the 

40 






Opportunities of the Sunday School 

world — those upon whom he may exert an in- 
fluence. This involves, then, the two essen- 
tial elements of ideal development — character, 
and character for service. It is a most happy 
and striking coincidence that, simultaneous 
with the new pedagogical emphasis upon the 
vital and practical in all education, there 
comes this demand for the study and practice 
of missions. In fact, it is almost certain that 
this call for a study of missions in the Sunday 
school is only one of the practical results of 
the application of modern psychology. 

President Goucher very wisely observes : 
"Sunday-school education should secure three 
things in particular — the conversion of the 
scholar, the development of his Christian 
character, and his efficient personal co-opera- 
tion with the church in world-evangelization/' 

3. Missions should be taught in the Sun- 
day school because here we have the most 
impressionable ages. One of the greatest 
pedagogical blunders and moral crimes the 
church has been guilty of in all its missionary 
effort, is its neglect of missionary instruction 
to and for the young. It is only within the 
last seven years that our Young People's so- 
cieties have been doing systematic and orderly 

41 



The Church in Earnest 

missionary work, and here, as stated before, 
few of the youngest children and only about 
one-fifth of the number in the Sunday schools 
are reached. While we need to interest adults 
in missions for what new interest we may 
awaken, it is high time we are learning that 
the period in which to begin to create mis- 
sionary spirit and to make missionaries, is in 
the primary and intermediate departments of 
our schools. Who can measure the worth 
and weight of an impression made upon a 
child at the tender, sensitive age of six? Who 
will ever know the positive decisions to enter 
upon a life of Christian service made by boys 
and girls of sixteen to eighteen years, under 
the wise counsel and guidance of a teacher 
who is in turn under the powerful grip of an 
intense missionary spirit? In these times of 
spiritual drought, when the army of God is 
calling for recruits for the Christian ministry, 
when our missionary societies, the Christian 
associations, and other benevolent organiza- 
tions are seeking for workers, why should we 
not turn to our Sunday schools for the enlist- 
ing of boys and girls who in a few years will 
be ready to fill up the ranks of these various 
professions ? 

42 



Opportunities of the Sunday School 

II. Can Missions be Taught in the Sunday 
School ? 

If missions should be taught, then, under 
God's guidance, it can be taught. 

1. Objections, and How to Overcome 
Them. Difficulties arise in every school, 
which must first be overcome. Lack of time 
and facilities, an indifference and lack of 
preparation on the part of teachers and offi- 
cers, a well-meant but ill-founded prejudice 
against introducing anything but Bible study 
into the Sunday school — all must be met and 
overcome before the work can be successfully 
carried on. 

The time for it must.be determined by each 
school. Supplemental missionary lessons may 
be taught once a month, or once a Sunday in 
connection with missionary talks and prayers, 
which should never be counted out of place in 
any Sunday-school session. The teacher's 
preparation should, in some form or another, 
include instruction in missions. This may be 
done either in the regular teachers' meeting 
or by means of missionary literature wisely 
distributed, or perhaps, best of all, through 
the mission study classes organized under the 
auspices of the Sunday school or Young Peo- 

43 



The Church in Earnest 

pie's society. We need not be alarmed at the 
thought of supplementing the Bible with ex- 
traneous material. The Bible itself is a mis- 
sionary book, and anything which promotes 
Bible instruction or throws light on its mean- 
ing must be welcomed in our schools. 

2. Missionary Materials. The materials 
for missionary lessons and instruction are 
rapidly assuming immense proportions. An 
intelligent missionary committee should be 
able to select appropriate material from the 
vast stores of literature now being produced. 

One school (Summit Street United Breth- 
ren, in Dayton, Ohio) uses material prepared 
by the superintendent, once a month, consist- 
ing of questions, suggestions, and references 
to literature on the subject. This is prepared 
and handed to the teachers one week in 
advance, so that they may assign work to the 
scholars for discussion on Missionary Day. 
This material is usually based upon the 
Young People's missionary topic for the 
month, though other topics are sometimes 
assigned. 

3. Grading. Whatever be the method or 
material, one thing should be consistently 
observed, if possible — the lessons should be 

44 



Opportunities of the Sunday School 

so graded as to fit the varying ages and con- 
ditions of the scholars. Much time and energy 
may be lost by trying to present material not 
thus adapted. 

Grade 1. In brief, missionary curios, 
object lessons and illustrations may be used 
for the primary grades. 

Grade 2. Missionary biography, including 
books like "Uganda's White Man of Work," 
tales of adventures and heroism, stories of 
real life among the natives, and similar mate- 
rial, appeal to Intermediates. 

Grade 3. Problems of missions, compara- 
tive religion, principles and practices of the 
natives in their worship and belief, should be 
the material for adult grades. 

4. Methods. As a brief summary of the 
various ways in which this work may be car- 
ried on in connection with the school, I make 
the following suggestions as to time, place, 
and methods. One or more of five plans of 
instruction may be pursued: 

(1) Supplemental material taught once a 
month before or after the regular lesson, and 
an entire missionary program carried out. 

(2) An entire missionary lesson once a 
quarter, with a complete program. 

45 



The Church in Earnest 

(3) Missionary interpretation and illustra- 
tion with every Sunday-school lesson. 

(4) Talks by the superintendent or others 
at stated times on the subject of missions, 
with missionary program. 

(5) Special short-term classes taught either 
in or out of the school. 

5. Giving. Missionary instruction in the 
Sunday school must be accompanied by giving 
to missions. Although the primary aim of 
missionary education is not to secure the chil- 
dren's money, yet there must be an outlet for 
the interest created. To arouse the child's 
sympathy for others in need of the gospel, 
and then not let him manifest that sympathy 
in some tangible way, would not only be use- 
less but harmful to his character. We are to 
be "doers of the Word and not hearers only." 

In every Sunday school provision should be 
made to inculcate in the scholars the sense of 
stewardship. The child must early learn that 
what he calls his own is not absolutely his, 
but that he simply holds it in trust. As a 
steward, he must give an account for its 
proper use. The failure to appreciate this 
fact is the cause of much selfishness in the 
church. It is also the reason why our mis- 

46 






Opportunities of the Sunday School 

sionary treasuries lack funds and the progress 
of the kingdom of God is greatly delayed. 

The missionary committee of the Sunday 
school, together with the pastor, should plan 
for systematic and proportionate giving to 
missions. Some schools take a missionary 
offering once a quarter. Many schools devote 
the offering of one Sunday a month to mis- 
sions ; others give two offerings a month for 
that purpose, while still others provide a plan 
by which the scholars may make a missionary 
offering every Sunday in addition to the regu- 
lar school offering. 

For a more extended study of missions in 
the Sunday school, I cannot refrain from re- 
ferring the reader to the splendid book, "A 
Manual of Missionary Methods for Sunday- 
School Workers, " by George H. Trull ; also 
Miss Marth Hixson's manual, "Missions in 
the Sunday School," and Dr. Joseph Clark's 
pamphlet, "The Smoke of a Thousand Vil- 
lages. " 



47 



^T&e Session &tubp Clajsg— an 3n* 

J. Edgar Knipp 

Young Peopled Sec'y. Foreign Missionary Society 



The movement for the organization of mis- 
sion study classes is international as well as 
interdenominational in its scope. The cam- 
paign was started by the Student Volunteer 
Movement in 1894, when its educational de- 
partment was organized. At first the study 
of missions was confined chiefly to the col- 
leges and theological seminaries. When, in 
1902, the Young People's Missionary Move- 
ment first began the publication of its text- 
books, there was but little mission study in the 
churches. 

Since then, however, the growth has been 
almost phenomenal. During the first year of 
the movement's work, about 17,000 persons 
were enrolled in mission study classes ; the 
second year, approximately 22,000; the third 
year, about 50,000; the fourth year, a little 
over 61,000; the fifth year, nearly 100,000; 

48 



The Mission Study Class 

and during the year 1907-08 there was a re- 
markable increase to 175,000 persons enrolled 
in mission study classes in the churches. 

This wonderful movement along mission- 
study lines in America soon attracted atten- 
tion in other countries. The text-books of the 
Young People's Missionary Movement are 
now being used by Non-Conformist and Es- 
tablished Churches in England, by the United 
Free Churches of Scotland, and by mission 
study classes in New Zealand, Australia, 
South Africa, India, China, and Japan. 

The question may well be asked, Why has 
this movement spread in such a remarkable 
way? Why has the mission study idea met 
with such universal approval and response on 
the part of people in the local churches, and 
why do twenty-one mission boards in Amer- 
ica each employ one or more secretaries to 
give a large part of their time to the promo- 
tion of the mission study campaign? 

Some Fundamental Reasons 

1. The mission study class affords the best 
means of inspiring our people with God's 
wonder-working in the world to-day. To take 
up for eight consecutive weeks the study of a 

49 



The Church in Earnest 

great country like China, and to learn about 
its people, their customs and their religions; 
to understand the conditions existing in 1807, 
when Robert Morrison began his work, and 
at present, when there are nearly 200,000 
Protestant Christians; to see some typical 
missionaries at work preaching the gospel, 
healing the sick, translating the Scriptures, 
educating the young, and training the native 
workers; to investigate the problems that 
must be solved in the evangelization of a 
country containing a population equal to that 
of North America, South America, Africa, 
Australia, Great Britain, France, and Spain; 
to see how the gospel of Jesus Christ is trans- 
forming the lives of the individual "heathen 
Chinee," and at the same time is giving the 
whole country a new idea of God and an en- 
tirely new idea of man — all this produces a 
deep and lasting impression of the fact that 
God lives to-day and is working mightily. 

It is true that information concerning 
Christian work abroad may be imparted 
through missionary meetings, through the 
preaching of sermons, through the distribu- 
tion of tracts and the circulation of books. 
These methods each have their proper place; 

50 



The Mission Study Class 

but to study a subject for one's self, then to 
meet with ten or twelve others and discuss it, 
means much more than when one simply 
listens to another or reads alone. By contin- 
uing the study and discussion for eight or 
nine weeks, by reviewing the most important 
points, by talking over things not clearly 
understood, by comparing impressions of the 
facts presented in the text-book, and by sup- 
plementing those facts with material from 
outside sources, each member of the class 
finishes the course a much wiser Christian, 
and one whose heart has been inspired with 
new faith in God and with new love for man- 
kind and the living and working Christ who 
died to save all. 

2. Through the study of missions an in- 
telligent, enthusiastic , abiding interest in the 
evangelization of the world is developed. 
Knowledge must precede interest. One natu- 
rally will not devote much time, thought, or 
money to a cause of which he knows little or 
nothing. Most of the indifference and preju- 
dice towards the work of foreign missions is 
the result of ignorance. The majority of 
Christians do not know the needs of the 
heathen world, the vast extent of the lands 

51 



The Church in Earnest 

to be evangelized, the wonderful changes 
wrought by the gospel of Christ among even 
the most degraded people. Therefore, the 
greatest enterprise in the world — that of 
establishing the kingdom of God throughout 
the earth — lacks adequate support. 

Before William Carey went to India as a 
missionary, his motto was : "My business is 
to preach the gospel. I cobble shoes to pay 
expenses. " His burning enthusiasm for the 
coming of the kingdom in all the earth was 
based upon definite knowledge of the needs. 
Through Cook's account of his travels in the 
East he had learned the real conditions, and 
notwithstanding strong opposition on the part 
of ministers, as well as laymen, he continued 
to press the claims of the heathen world until 
a missionary society was organized and he 
himself was sent out as one of its first repre- 
sentatives. 

The time is here when every Christian must 
be possessed by Carey's spirit. Whether we 
go abroad or remain at home, the same burn- 
ing zeal must continually fill our hearts. This 
enthusiasm, to be permanent and abiding, 
must be based upon definite knowledge ; 
otherwise it will be mere fanaticism, or it may 

52 



The Mission Study Class 

be "a passing spasm of meaningless emotion. " 
Thus we see the absolute necessity of definite, 
thorough knowledge concerning this work 
and our relation to it. 

That the mission study class produces such 
enthusiastic interest has been proven again 
and again. Persons who before gave one dol- 
lar annually for missions have increased their 
contributions to twenty and forty dollars per 
year. Many others, as a result of their study, 
have decided to give a tenth of their income. 
Another direct result of mission study classes 
is the many hundreds of young people who 
have offered themselves to go as missionaries 
to foreign fields. Besides increased giving 
and a growing number of missionary candi- 
dates, many persons who before were indif- 
ferent are now using, as a result of their 
study, the greatest missionary force God has 
entrusted to his people — intercessory prayer. 
Even though the educational campaign did 
not secure a single missionary for the field, 
and even though it did not result in increased 
giving, which things are inconceivable, it 
would none the less be indispensable as a 
means of securing more intelligent prayer for 
the world's evangelization. 

53 



The Church in Earnest 

3. Through the mission study class, mis- 
sionary leaders may be provided for the local 
church. The task of evangelizing the work 
is a stupendous one. God is commanding not 
individual men and women merely, he is com- 
manding the whole church to undertake the 
work. Our aim, therefore, must be to enlist 
every member, old and young, in making 
Jesus Christ known and loved throughout the 
world. 

The pastor cannot do this alone, however 
good may be his plans. Without helpers he 
will be like Moses — wearing himself out try- 
ing to administer justice for the Israelites. 
Just as he needed to appoint able men to assist 
him, so in the local church there must be mis- 
sionary leaders co-operating with the pastor 
in each department. These persons must 
have clear, deep convictions on the subject of 
world-wide missions, they must be prepared 
to advocate the cause, they must be ready to 
lead mission study classes and to interest 
others in every possible way. To this end 
there should be an efficient mission study class 
especially for them. No other thing will help 
the pastor more in carrying out a large and 
growing missionary policy. 

S4 



The Mission Study Class 

In his article on "The Missionary Oppor- 
tunity of the Sunday School," Professor Clip- 
pinger clearly shows the absolute necessity for 
introducing missionary instruction in that 
department. One of the greatest difficulties 
in the way of doing this, however, is the lack 
of knowledge and enthusiasm on the part of 
the teachers. "It is impossible to transmit any 
heat through non-conductors." The Sunday- 
school teachers are the real key to the situa- 
tion. If the teachers are full of missionary 
spirit, the regular lessons will offer abundant 
opportunity for effective work. 

A similar difficulty is met with in the 
Junior and Young People's societies. Unless 
their leaders have caught the world vision 
and know what mission work really is, they 
are not able to make the monthly missionary 
meetings interesting or attractive. 

The idea is growing that every member of 
every church in Christendom ought to know 
not only why he is a member of the church of 
Jesus Christ at all, but what he is called upon 
to do for the salvation of the whole world. 
To accomplish this result and to raise up the 
needed leaders, the mission study class is an 
indispensable agency. 

55 



The Church in Earnest 

In organizing the first class in a church, the 
aim should be to enroll persons who are in a 
position to influence its missionary life and 
activity. Secure as members the Sunday- 
school teacherj, the Junior and Sunday-school 
superintendents, the members of the mission- 
ary committee and of the official board. In a 
sense let it be a class of leaders and workers, 
although its membership need not be limited 
exclusively to such persons. If Christ spent 
a large part of his three years' public ministry 
in training the twelve apostles, can the busy 
pastor do better than give much time and 
thought to the training of those through 
whom his whole congregation will get a vision 
of the world's needs and fall into line with 
Christ's world plan? The results produced by 
such training will well repay for all the time 
and effort devoted to that purpose. 



56 



^e Conference jfotetsn Slptejesionatp 
Committee an (Essential Hint 

Rev. S. F. Daugherty, A.M., Westerville, Ohio 



The Conference Foreign Missionary Com- 
mittee holds a unique place in making effec- 
tive the organization of our whole Church for 
world-wide missions. It serves as a connect- 
ing link between the General Society and the 
pastor or missionary committee in the local 
church. Until our last General Conference, 
when the home and foreign missionary work 
was separated, and each was made a distinct 
department, we were without such a commit- 
tee. It is, therefore, a comparatively new 
piece of Church machinery, and many of us 
have not yet clearly apprehended what its 
functions are. 

In Article 12, page 111 of our Church Dis- 
cipline, we have this statement with reference 
to the organization and object of this com- 
mittee : 

"Each annual conference shall organize a 
branch society auxiliary to the Foreign Mis- 

57 



The Church in Earnest 

sionary Society, consisting of three members, 
naming one as its secretary who shall assist 
the General Secretary in developing intere?: 
in foreign missions, and securing gifts for the 
5 : ::e:y." 

Here, in a general way. is outlined the work 
■:: this committee. The field for its activity 
includes the pastors, and all of the members 
of the local churches in a conference. What 
a glorious opportunity, and how inspiring the 
work in which this committee is to be en- 
gaged ! 

From the foregoing it will be seen that the 
committee is to be a helper and worker to- 
gether with the General Board, and with the 
pastors ■:: the local churches, for the promo- 
tion of foreign missions, the supreme aim of 
which is the conquest of the world for Christ. 

This is Work for Every Member 

Down through the centuries comes ringi 
the command of our rhr:: Lord, "Go ye into 
all the world and preach the gospel to the 
whole creation. n It is a message from the 
King Eternal, and it covers even* man. 
woman, and child beneath the scepter of the 
5 ::: of God. 

53 






The Conference Committee 

General Sherman said that the commanders 
of the Army of the Potomac failed because 
they did not get into action more than three- 
fourths of their men, and that the com- 
manders of the western armies succeeded be- 
cause they got into action nine-tenths, and, in 
some cases, all of their soldiers. 

How can the church of God expect to con- 
quer the world when only about one-third of 
its members are thoroughly alive to the work 
of foreign missions? 

At the battle of Waterloo, in a critical mo- 
ment when victory and defeat rested in the 
balance, the Duke of Wellington sent this 
command, "Advance all along the line/' and 
because that order was promptly obeyed, the 
victory was won. When the church of the 
living God shall advance, as one man, all 
along the line, victory is assured in the great 
conflict of conquering the world for Christ. 

'The Son of God goes forth to war, 
A kingly crown to gain : 
His blood-red banner streams afar. 
Who follows in his train?" 

So far as our Church, our division of the 
army of Christ is concerned, we shall not 

59 



The Church in Earnest 

rest satisfied until every man, woman, and 
child is enlisted in this war. Shall we? 

The Conference Foreign Missionary Com- 
mittee will become a vital factor in propor- 
tion as it succeeds in enlisting every pastor, 
and through him every member of each local 
church, in hearty co-operation in this work. 
Only when this is accomplished will the entire 
organization of our Church be effective in the 
conflict. 

Why Promote Foreign Missions ? 

But why should the whole Church be en- 
gaged in conquering the whole world for 
Christ? To many this would seem a super- 
fluous question. But when we recall that 
there are yet some ministers and laymen who 
do not have the world-vision, and conse- 
quently are indifferent, and in some instances 
antagonistic to the foreign missionary enter- 
prise, you will at least permit the question, 
and will be patient while I recount a number 
of reasons for promoting this work : 

1. Because Christ authorized and com- 
manded it. He said : "All authority hath been 
given unto me. ... Go ye, therefore, and 
make disciples of all the nations." "As thou 

60 



The Conference Committee 

hast sent me into the world., so also have I 
sent them into the world." This, in itself, 
should be a sufficient reason. 

2. There are eight hundred million human 
beings now without the light of the gospel, 
who have as good a right to the best there is 
in life as we have. They are perishing with- 
out the Bread of Life. And the church of 
Christ is his only agent in supplying them 
with his gospel. 

3. Our prosperity at home depends upon 
it. The life and power of the church at home 
depends upon its loyalty to the world-wide 
purpose of the mission of Jesus Christ. Jacob 
Riis, who has done such splendid home-mis- 
sion work in Greater Xew York City, de- 
clares : "I have learned what others learned 
before me. that for every dollar you give 
away to convert the heathen abroad, God 
gives you ten dollars' worth of purpose to 
deal with your heathen at home.'' 

Organization Necessary 

It will be readily seen that if the matter of 
foreign missions is to be realized in the best 
and quickest way, with the least expenditure 
of time, effort, and money, that organization 

61 



The Church in Earnest 

is necessary. Marion Lawrance says : "Or- 
ganization is system; the lack of it is confu- 
sion. The difference between a mob and a 
trained army is simply organization." 

The Foreign Missionary Society's recog- 
nized agencies for bringing about this result 
are: 

1. The General Board and Executive 
Committee, headed by the General and Edu- 
cational Secretaries, who are our specialties 
in this work. 

2. The Conference Committee. 

3. The pastor and the committee in the 
local church. 

Each of these agencies has its part to per- 
form in making effective the organization of 
our whole Church. The General Board plans 
the campaign, selects the fields, appoints the 
missionaries, supplies the equipment and 
agencies on the foreign fields, reports to the 
home churches the needs of the work, and en- 
deavors to enlist all in supplying these needs ; 
sends out helpful tracts and other literature, 
and has the general direction of the adminis- 
trative work. The pastor and local committee 
in each church hold the key, very largely, to 
the situation. If the pastor is a missionary 

62 



The Conference Committee 

man he will soon develop a good local com- 
mittee, and his church will become, ere long, 
a missionary force. Between the pastor and 
his local committee and the General Board 
stands the conference committee, which shares 
in the responsibility of carrying on the work. 
There is much that this committee can, and 
ought to do, if it is alive to its opportunity. 

In effecting the organization of the commit- 
tee, great care should be exercised by the 
conference in selecting persons having the 
following qualifications: (1) They should 
have an active interest in foreign missions. 
(2) They should be students of missions. The 
importance of this cannot be over-emphasized. 
If practicable, there should be lay representa- 
tion. (3) They should be broad-minded, 
large-hearted, liberal-handed Christians — men 
of statesmanlike qualities, able to take in a 
situation and wrestle with it to a finish. 

Preparation for Their Work 

In order to successfully grapple with their 
great work, it is very important that the mem- 
bers of this committee secure special prepara- 
tion. Among the numerous ways by which 

63 






The Church in Earnest 

this may be obtained, I mention the follow- 
ing: 

1. Attendance at one of the summer mis- 
sionary conferences. 

2. A thorough study of the new books, 
"The Why and How of Foreign Missions/' 
"Our Own Foreign Missionary Enterprise," 
and especially all the chapters of the book in 
which this article is found. 

3. Studying the aims and methods of local 
churches that have succeeded in our own and 
in other denominations. 

4. Studying the conditions in your own 
conference, the difficulties and the encour- 
aging features. 

5. By reading widely missionary biography 
and the best of the new books that are appear- 
ing on missions, as well as the current mis- 
sionary literature of our own denomination. 

6. Above all, by studying the resurrection 
messages of Jesus Christ, and through ear- 
nest, believing prayer. 

Some Things the Committee Should Do 

1. Each member of the committee should 
seek to make his own church a missionary 
power. A church has made a good beginning 

64 






The Conference Committee 

when its members, through the study of the 
Bible, prayer, and the study of missions, have 
become thoroughly imbued with a passion to 
carry the gospel to others. The awakening of 
such an impulse is not an end, but the first 
firm step toward the desired goal. A mission- 
ary impression must be followed by an ade- 
quate expression. The awakened interest 
must be crystallized into definite purposes, 
and expressed in habits of action, gifts, and 
prayer, or it is useless. Example is what 
tells, and the members of the committee 
should see to it that their church sets a good 
example. 

2. The committee should aim to have 
every charge in the conference receive the 
help that comes from a systematic study of 
missions. It is not an unreasonable aim to 
say that every local church should have the 
inspiration and broadening outlook that will 
come from the study of the new book, "Our 
Foreign Missionary Enterprise/' this year. 
The committee should secure the co-operation 
of every pastor, with a view to carrying out 
this aim. 

3. The promotion of Christian steward- 
ship will be an important phase of the work 

65 



The Church in Earnest 

of the committee. Pastors should be induced 
to preach on this subject and circulate the 
excellent tracts now available. The commit- 
tee should also seek to encourage the intro- 
duction of a weekly, or at least monthly sys- 
tem of offerings for the benevolences of the 
Church, as well as for the local expenses. 
This is a work of great importance just nozv. 

4. The committee should keep before the 
pastors of the conference the aims and plans 
of the General Board, and by districting the 
conference each member of the committee 
might assist the pastors in a certain district 
to hold local missionary rallies, and to carry 
out successfully well-laid plans. Doubtless 
the committee cannot do a better thing than 
to plan thoroughly for missionary institutes 
that shall enlist the pastors and the laymen of 
the entire conference. 

Before preparing this article, I wrote to a 
number of committee secretaries, asking them 
to give me the plans and methods used in 
their conference. Here are some of the re- 
plies : 

( 1 ) A personal letter to all the pastors and 
many leading laymen, defining our aims and 

66 



J 



The Conference Committee 

purposes at the beginning of the year, has 
been found very helpful. 

(2) The use of the columns of the confer- 
ence paper has been an important factor in 
promoting foreign missions. 

(3) The visit of many churches by the sec- 
retary of the committee. 

(4) Arranging tours for a returned mis- 
sionary and the General Secretary. 

(5) Making prominent the subject of mis- 
sions on the conference and convention pro- 
grams. 

The universal testimony of all who have 
tried the institute plan is that this is one of 
the most important and effective means for 
promoting our work. 

The presiding elder, or conference superin- 
tendent, is an ex-officio member of this com- 
mittee, and he is in a position to promote this 
interest as no other man in the conference. 
With the hearty co-operation of the presiding 
elder, pastors, and the committees on mis- 
sions in the local churches, every foreign mis- 
sionary committee can do a work of vast im- 
portance for the extension of the kingdom of 
God. 



«7 



SLn deficient 9t£tgS0ionatp Committee 
in tfie Eocal C&utcf) 

Rev. L. Walter Lutz, Dallastown, Pa. 



The whole church in action in the conquest 
of the whole world for Christ, and every mem- 
ber obeying the Master's last command, is the 
only worthy ideal for any local church. To 
create a missionary atmosphere that will lead 
the local church to the realization of this ideal, 
large responsibility logically falls upon the 
pastor. However, the pastor must not be the 
only missionary enthusiast, but rather the 
leader and director of the missionary interest 
and activity of the congregation. 

A live general missionary committee is of 
supreme importance in every congregation. 
Provision for such a committee is made in our 
Church Discipline, as follows: "A missionary 
committee may be organized in any local 
church to interest and enlist the entire mem- 
bership of the local church in the zvork of 
both home and foreign missions, and to devise 
such methods and measures as shall develop 
the church into a strong missionary agency." 

68 



The Local Church Committee 

A Significant Committee 

This committee is the council of war in the 
local church for the extension of the kingdom. 
The necessity for such a committee is very 
apparent when we consider the vast amount 
of work that is to be done in every congrega- 
tion to awaken, instruct, train, and put to 
service every Christian for the largest exten- 
sion of the kingdom of our Lord. 

Well has it been said, "The greatest prob- 
lem which confronts us to-day is that of dis- 
tributing the missionary responsibility which 
has become congested in official centers/' It 
is the business of this committee in each local 
church to lift up and set forth, in unmistakable 
clearness and power, the great commission of 
our Lord Jesus as the all-authoritative and 
not obsolete marching orders for all God's 
people. Every local church and every indi- 
vidual believer in it should stand for the 
immediate carrying out of these orders. The 
church is not a hospital, but an army equipped 
for world-wide conquest ; not a field, but a 
force ; and the only thing that will save our 
young men and young women from the en- 
croachments of this materialistic age is to give 
them the greater joy and enthusiasm of having 

69 



The Church in Earnest 

a large share in the work of first importance — 
the preaching of the gospel to every creature. 
Speaking of the importance of such a com- 
mittee, Mr. John R. Mott writes: "It is de- 
sirable and necessary that there should be a 
church missionary committee to insure unity, 
harmony, and efficiency in conducting a varied 
and extensive educational campaign. Let the 
pastor regard this group of workers as his 
missionary staff, and by most intimate asso- 
ciation with them in all their plans and activ- 
ities, seek to communicate to them his own 
vision and spirit, as well as his deepest con- 
victions as to how the church may be made a 
mighty factor in the conquest of the world for 
Jesus Christ." 

Membership of the Committee 

Only those who are at heart interested in 
the w 7 ork, and who command the respect and 
confidence of others, who are energetic, re- 
sourceful, tactful, persevering, and, above all, 
prayerful, should be appointed on this impor- 
tant committee. The committee should be 
composed of from five to seven or nine per- 
sons, who represent, if possible, all the depart- 
ments of the church's activities, such as the 

70 



The Local Church Committee 

Sunday school, the Young People's Society, 
the Junior Society, the Woman's Missionary 
Association, and, in addition, the leader of the 
mission study class work, the missionary 
superintendent in the Sunday school, a live 
class leader, and the person who should super- 
intend the system of benevolences for the 
church, the pastor being chairman of this 
committee. 

The Work to be Done 

1. The committee itself must be instructed 
and trained. The members of this committee 
stand between the pastor and the membership 
at large, and each one is to become a specialist 
in co-operating with the pastor to awaken and 
develop the missionary life of some depart- 
ment of the church. The members of the 
committee, therefore, must themselves study 
thoroughly the great work of missions, must 
know the world's needs, and the best methods 
by which their own church may supply those 
needs. 

The persons on this committee must be able, 
also, to communicate their enthusiasm to 
others and set others to work likewise. Not 
all the members will be recognized as trained 

71 



The Church in Earnest 

leaders at the beginning. The best persons 
available should be chosen, and if there is a 
willing mind and heart, their growth and 
efficiency will manifest themselves to all as the 
months go by. 

2. This committee should conduct a great 
missionary educational campaign for the en- 
tire church. In some local churches not one 
member in five has ever read through one 
missionary book. Is it any wonder that such 
persons are not interested, and that some of 
them are even prejudiced against this work? 
We cannot reap without sowing; we cannot 
be interested without knowing. 

One of the greatest needs of the Christian 
church is that more intensive work be done in 
behalf of those who are professed Christians. 
They need instruction in the Word of God 
and in the great work God is now doing in all 
parts of the world. We suggest three ways 
by which the committee may help forward 
this educational campaign : 

(a) By planning to organize and conduct 
from one to five or more mission study classes 
each year, enrolling, as far as possible, the 
entire membership of the local church in the 
study of the splendid missionary books now 

72 



The Local Church Committee 

available. Wonderful faith and enthusiasm 
can be developed in any local church if this 
mission study work be conducted in a thor- 
ough and persevering manner. 

(b) In addition to this general mission 
study work, the committee should encourage 
the study of missions in the Sunday school 
and in the Junior and Young People's Society. 
Such books as "A Manual of Missionary 
Methods for Sunday-School Workers/' by 
Mr. George H. Trull, published by the Sun- 
day-School Times Company, Philadelphia, 
Pa., should be in the hands of every member 
of this committee, and be studied especially 
by the teachers of the Sunday school and 
Junior workers. 

Missionary biographies, telling the story of 
the life and work of both home and foreign 
missionaries that are of thrilling interest, 
should be placed in every Sunday-school 
library ; likewise such series of books as "The 
Juvenile Missionary Library," so that all the 
members of the church and Sunday school can 
have their faith increased and their spiritual 
life quickened by the study of these books, 
without much outlay of money. 

(c) It will be an excellent thing to plan 

73 



The Church in Earnest 

well for an occasional missionary exercise for 
the entire congregation. Let the whole pro- 
gram be well thought out and arranged for in 
such a thorough way as to make a profound 
impression upon all who witness it. Much 
prayer should be offered for, and during such 
a meeting. The entire exercise should be con- 
ducted in the spirit of Christian missions. 
The service should be opened promptly and 
carried forward with much enthusiasm. It 
would be an excellent thing for a mission 
study class to conclude its work by reporting 
the results of its study at such a public 
gathering. 

In addition to what has been here men- 
tioned, the committee should see to it that the 
missionary magazines and church papers are 
well circulated in the congregation, and that 
the excellent tracts and booklets that are being 
published on these live topics are well circu- 
lated and read by the membership at large. 

Returned missionaries should be secured to 
address the congregation whenever possible, 
and the pastor should be encouraged not only 
to preach an occasional missionary sermon, 
but to show forth the spirit of missions in 
every sermon, and illustrate frequently his 

74 



The Local Church Committee 

discourses with the story of what Christ is 
now doing in all parts of the world. Every 
church that carries forward such a campaign 
of missionary education through a series of 
years with increasing faith and efficiency will 
become a live missionary agency and a great 
power for God. 

3. The general missionary committee, in 
counsel with the pastor, should determine the 
church's budget for benevolences, including 
home and foreign missions, and should assist 
in working out a system of weekly, monthly, 
or at least quarterly offerings to meet the 
needs of this budget. This system of offer- 
ings and the budget should be presented to 
the congregation for the approval and co- 
operation of all the members. 

The committee, having studied the needs of 
the fields and the methods to be introduced, 
can do much to clear the atmosphere of the 
local church for the complete co-operation of 
every member to reach the largest possible 
aims in the extension of the kingdom. One 
member of the committee might be charged 
with the special responsibility of Christian 
stewardship. Tracts and booklets on this im- 
portant subject should be circulated and 

75 



The Church in Earnest 

studied, and sermons should be preached on 
the Bible standard of giving. 

4. The committee as a whole should be a 
band of earnest intercessors with God in be- 
half of missions; and not only so, but should 
seek to introduce in the church a missionary 
prayer-meeting once a month. Each family 
of the congregation should be led to see the 
privilege of daily, fervent prayer in behalf of 
not only their own pastor and the local 
church, but also in behalf of our home and 
foreign missionaries, and the native pastors 
and Christians in our foreign fields. Like- 
wise, definite prayer should be made for God's 
guidance and blessing to be upon the general 
secretaries, and the executive committees and 
directors of our missionary societies. 

All that has been mentioned here is but sug- 
gestive of the variety and importance of the 
work of this committee. Every wise pastor 
will find it to be of immense advantage to 
have a band of coworkers similar to that here 
indicated. One pastor who has had wide expe- 
rience says : "A committee of this kind un- 
consciously develops the idea in a church that 
missions are not merely a side issue, but the 
fundamental aim of the church. " The testi- 

76 



The Local Church Committee 

mony from other churches indicates that 
where this plan is thoroughly worked, the 
offerings to missions have increased several 
hundred per cent., and the gifts to the local 
w r ork have also increased. 

Such a plan as is here suggested will lead 
to the following results : 

(1) A larger and more enthusiastic co- 
operation of the whole congregation with the 
pastor in all the work of the church. 

(2) The realization by the local church of 
its responsibility to assume and plan for the 
work of missions, without being constantly 
urged by the pastor to do so. Every local 
church ought to be so instructed and trained 
that it will take the initiative itself in planning 
for the instruction of its members in missions, 
and likewise in the securing of adequate offer- 
ings for this work. In a local church where 
this method has been in operation, when there 
was a change of pastors, recently, the new 
minister found that the congregation, during 
the month's interval before he took up the 
work, had carried forward the missionary and 
other departments of the work of the church 
just as usual, and they had in the treasury 

77 



The Church in Earnest 

seventy-seven dollars for missions to begin the 
work of the new year. 

Why should not every congregation in the 
land be thus trained to go forward with all 
the essential departments of the church work, 
whether the pastor is on the ground or not? 
Is it not high time for the laymen to awaken 
to their rightful place and co-operate with the 
pastor in organizing each local church as an 
agency for the evangelization of the whole 
world? In no other way can the membership 
of our churches be brought into that enlarged, 
healthy, vigorous life that is absolutely neces- 
sary to keep them from being overcome with 
the incoming tide of commercialism and 
worldliness now everywhere recognized. 

Shall not the laymen assume at once larger 
responsibility for the development of our home 
churches? Is not this the time for a great 
advance all along the line, until the whole 
church of Christ shall move forward as a 
mighty phalanx to claim the kingdoms of this 
world for the kingdom of our Lord Jesus 
Christ? 



78 



2Di0tttct a aaiptlu jFotce? 

Rev. C. W. Kurtz 

Presiding Elder, Miami Conference 



The task set before the church of Christ is 
to carry the gospel to all nations. All the 
ends of the earth are included, and no one is 
excluded. What Christ is to you and me in 
all his love and power, and what he will be to 
us in all his glory, that he desires to be, and 
by the grace of God he is intended to be, to 
every man. Jesus said, "All power is given 
unto me in heaven and in earth ; go ye there- 
fore and teach all nations." According to this 
commission, the essential spirit of Christianity 
is missionary. The whole Christian church, 
with all its numerous branches and separate 
organizations, constitutes a mighty army 
which is gloriously pushing forward into the 
enemy's country, and each individual Chris- 
tian ought to be a living factor in this world 
conflict for Christ. 

How can the presiding elder make his dis- 
trict a world force in waging this war against 

79 



The Church in Earnest 

sin, heathenism, idolatry, and superstition, and 
bring the blessed news of salvation to all 
men? What can he do to line up the churches 
in his district so that they may have a larger 
part and exert a more potent influence in the 
world? The presiding elder, as superintend- 
ent of a district or conference, stands in close 
relation to all the allied interests of the 
church. He has the opportunity of molding 
opinion, creating sentiment, and leading the 
district into larger life, broader vision, and in- 
creased interest in all missionary work. 

We are at present in a period of transition 
as to the place and work of the presiding 
elder, and are asking whether he is still to 
consume his time in conducting all the quar- 
terly meetings and communion services, and 
doing many things, the reasons for which have 
passed away, and which the pastor can do as 
well himself; or whether he is to give himself 
to the more vital interests of the conference 
and Church at large and make his district a 
greater power for advancing the kingdom of 
God. Without question, the successful pre- 
siding elder in the days just ahead must grasp 
the essential forward movements in the 
Church, and reveal to the pastors and local 

80 



The District a World Force 

congregations the part they may have in ex- 
tending the kingdom of God in this day of 
marvelous opportunities. 

In our polity, the presiding elder is the 
connecting link between the bishops and the 
general boards on the one hand, and the pas- 
tors and congregations on the other. He is 
the only one who stands in direct touch with 
the pastors and official members of our local 
churches, and who has the opportunity, there- 
fore, and the authority to execute plans and 
policies for the development of our churches. 
We are entering upon a new era in every 
department of our denominational life, and 
the wide-awake presiding elder will have no 
small part to perform in the advance steps that 
must soon be taken. 

The presiding elder, therefore, should be a 
close student of missions, and by pondering 
the Word of God and the needs of the world 
should gain a world-wide vision that will 
bring to his own heart such a revelation of 
responsibility and such a baptism of the Spirit 
of God as shall enable him to carry the inspir- 
ing conceptions of God's purpose to save the 
whole world to every charge on his district. 

81 



The Church in Earnest 



In Public Addresses 

The presiding elder should know our 
denominational work thoroughly, and be 
acquainted with, and call attention to our 
workers and our fields of operation. He 
should inspire the whole Church by relating 
the victories that have been won, and by call- 
ing attention to the urgent needs for enlarge- 
ment in our foreign fields. By his spirit and 
attitude toward our missionary work he can 
exert a world-wide influence. He can assist 
in planning the work of the year, and can also 
help to carry out the plans when once laid. 
His aim should be the enlistment of every 
member of the local church for the world- 
wide extension of the kingdom. 

He can keep the aims and plans of work 
before the pastors and official members as he 
meets them in the quarterly business sessions, 
and also before the congregations by his pub- 
lic addresses. It is his business to present 
these aims, plans, and standards, and cause 
every congregation to become a vital factor in 
world-wide movements for God. The elder 
should preach on Christian giving and help 
the pastors to inaugurate a better financial 
system, laying emphasis on God's claim or 

82 



The District a World Force 

men's lives and their possessions ; setting forth 
the tithe as the minimum biblical standard, 
and aim to secure definite advances from 
year to year. 

He can often give new inspiration by call- 
ing attention to the successes of other 
churches in carrying out similar aims, and 
thus assist the congregations to ever-increas- 
ing gifts for the extension of the work. 

A live presiding elder will be interested in, 
and work for a revival on every field of labor 
and give special time to the weak fields, for 
the development of the spiritual life of such 
churches, and for the salvation of men who 
will be added to the working force of the 
churches. 

In the Sunday Schools 

The presiding elder will find a splendid 
opportunity in the Sunday schools of his dis- 
trict. He can get in sympathetic touch with 
the superintendent of the school and impress 
him with the importance of his office and 
inspire him with a broader view of his work. 
The presiding elder can also make inspira- 
tional addresses to the Sunday school itself. 

In the quarterly conference the presiding 

83 



The Church in Earnest 

elder can keep before the Sunday-school 
superintendent and the other official members 
of the church the requirement of a monthly 
or quarterly offering for missions, and urge 
special missionary programs on missionary 
days. He can recommend books that are 
specially adapted to Sunday-school workers, 
and can suggest a series of missionary books 
for the library of every school. 

The vast army of wide-awake boys and 
girls in our Sunday schools constitutes a 
mighty force in the onward progress of the 
Church, not only in the money they may give, 
but also in furnishing the men and women 
who are to be the heralds of the Cross at home 
and abroad. Here we will find also our future 
pastors, superintendents, and teachers for the 
next generation. 

In the Young People's Societies 

In the Young People's and Junior societies 
the presiding elder will find another fruitful 
field for cultivation for the extension of the 
gospel. He can consult with the president of 
the Young People's Society and the superin- 
tendent of the Juniors, and encourage them to 
organize mission, study classes. 

84 



The District a World Force 

At the quarterly meetings he can question 
the officials concerning the number of mission 
study classes organized both in the member- 
ship at large and in the Sunday school and 
Young People's societies; and can suggest 
programs for conference conventions and dis- 
trict and circuit rallies. The elder can also 
inquire into the work of the Woman's Mis- 
sionary Association and encourage them in 
their splendid undertaking. 

In General 

The presiding elder has a first-class oppor- 
tunity to carry out any new conception he has 
in his heart for the advancement of the king- 
dom. He can meet personally the strategic 
men of each local church, can confer with the 
pastors one by one, and can suggest for each 
the book just suited for his needs ; and in 
addition, in missionary institutes, Sunday- 
school and Young People's conventions, he 
can hold before his district the aims and plans 
they should strive to work out, and unite all 
the workers in definite prayer for God's grace 
and blessings for the accomplishment of the 
tasks before them. 

The opportunities before an aggressive pre- 

85 



The Church in Earnest 

siding elder are unlimited. With faith in 
God and reliance upon the Holy Spirit, with 
patience and perseverance, he should go forth 
full of hope and enthusiasm in the business of 
his King. He has a unique opportunity in 
enlisting local churches in the glorious work 
of making Jesus Christ known and loved 
throughout the world. To the extent that each 
local church recognizes its part in the evan- 
gelization of the world, to that extent will the 
presiding elder make his district a world 
force. 



86 



<®%t Pagtot tfie ^ibotal St£an 

Rev. G. D. Batdorf, Reading, Pa. 



No church has any right to exist that does 
not spend its life for the kingdom of God in 
the whole world. Our Lord of the passing 
years looks to us to obey his great commis- 
sion and fulfill it literally to every generation. 
The campaign of Christian missions is world- 
wide. Upon the ears of the last needy man 
in the uttermost parts of the earth shall fall 
the music of Jesus' name. The final turning 
of the battle into a universal victory for our 
Christ depends upon the enlistment of the 
whole army in the conflict. 

It is a deepening conviction with me that 
my subject is one most vitally important, and 
the one that strikes to the very root of the 
problem of the world's evangelization. The 
problem of foreign missions finally presses 
itself back upon the local church for a solu- 
tion, and the pastor, more than any one else, 
holds the key to the situation. The ultimate 
battlefield of the foreign war is the home 

87 



The Church in Earnest 

church. Right here are the greatest obstacles, 
and here also is the greatest danger of failure. 
To make every local congregation a world 
force is the real task of every pastor, and he, 
indeed, is the pivotal man. The self-giving, 
saving life of a church depends upon his wis- 
dom, compassion, and leadership. "Like 
priest, like people." The missionary pastor — 
and he alone— will develop a missionary pas- 
torate. 

The first and great need in this campaign, 
then, is a ministry whose life is aflame with 
missionary consecration and devotion. If 
every church in our denomination is not a 
missionary church, it is because of a lack in 
the pastor's own life. He must possess the 
missionary heart — the God-touched soul. Doc- 
tor Charles Cuthbert Hall, who recently 
entered into his rest, has set up this standard 
for every pastor : "A man who shall enter the 
pastorate at home cannot be an able minister 
until his torch has been kindled at this altar 
of foreign missions, and his lips touched with 
this living coal." Until this flame glows in his 
deepest soul he will be satisfied to have his 
church merely on dress parade, drilling it in 
mock heroics, and happy if it holds its own, 



The Pastor the Pivotal Man 

instead of it becoming a disciplined regiment 
entering the conflict to fight and to conquer. 

The church needs, above all else, pastors — 
missionary pastors; men who carry in their 
hearts the pain of Calvary and the vision of 
Olivet; whose love is world-wide in its out- 
going compassion. Such men become God's 
ambassadors to all nations, and their pastor- 
ates widen into world-parishes. The battle 
languishes ; soldiers are dying on their arms, 
waiting ; the church is halting at home because 
of the lack of a heroic and self-sacrificing 
leadership. Our congregations are waiting to 
be led. They are willing to be led, but they 
will never go where we do not lead them. 
The stream rises no higher than its fountain- 
head. Ordinarily, the pew does not go beyond 
the standard set by the pulpit. 

The minister cannot inspire his people with 
missionary enthusiasm until the fire flames 
and glows in his own soul. When Alexander 
Duff came home after his life work in India, 
a great throng assembled in Edinburgh to 
hear him on the claims of India upon the 
Christian church. After an eloquent appeal 
of two hours and a half, the old veteran 
fainted away and was carried out of the hall. 

89 



The Church in Earnest 

When consciousness returned he said : "Where 
have I been? Take me back. I must finish 
my plea." The great audience arose as friends 
bore him back to the platform. Again his 
strength failed him and he could not rise ; but, 
gathering himself up for one final effort, he 
said: "Fathers of Scotland, have you any 
more sons for India? I have spent my life 
there and my life is gone, but if there are no 
more young men to go, I will go back myself 
and lay my bones there that the people may 
know there is one man in Christian Britain 
ready to die for India's deliverance." 

This is the only saving, conquering life. 
The pastor who carries in his heart such a 
pain for the lost of earth will unconsciously 
but surely transmit the same spirit to his 
people, and out from his church will flow cur- 
rents of life to bless and save men unto the 
ends of the earth. 

Through the pastor alone can the ear and 
heart of the whole church finally be reached. 
Fully three-fourths of our people are almost 
wholly dependent upon the pastor for the 
extent of their vision and the breadth of their 
sympathies. They see and feel the need of the 
world only as it comes to them through the 

90 



The Pastor the Pivotal Man 

eyes and heart of the minister. As pastors we 
are not true to our people if we neglect to 
give them this larger vision and open to them 
this fountain of richest blessing. The mission- 
ary life begotten in the heart of a local church 
through the faith and prayers and tears of a 
faithful pastor, becomes in that church a well 
of living water. The church that believes 
and propagates a world-gospel has also the 
strongest faith in its power to save the lost at 
her own doors. "The Son of God fixed our 
eyes upon that last man, that we might see 
between us and him every other man/' A 
church can reach its best only by having the 
world-vision and becoming a world force. 

"The field is the world." Dayton is not the 
world, nor Indiana, neither Pennsylvania 
nor America. These are only sections of the 
field. God loved the world and his Son died 
for it. A narrowing of the field would dis- 
honor our Lord and misrepresent his mission 
to men. Life in the spiritual realm operates 
according to law analogous to that in the nat- 
ural order. Every time I strike my hand into 
the air, I disturb this physical universe to the 
very rim of things. In like manner a life lived 
in spiritual and vital touch with God will 

91 



The Church in Earnest 

affect the kingdom of God in all its realms, in 
the farthest earth and the highest heaven. 
God gives to every pastor an audience of na- 
tions and of continents. He cannot, nor dare 
he localize his life; his church must afford 
a parish as extended as the world for which 
the Son of God gave his life. It is possible for 
every local church to become such a world 
force, but the pastor himself must kindle the 
fire and lead the way. And God wills that he 
should. But how shall this be accomplished? 
First, by the faithful preaching of a full 
gospel. Every pastor should magnify his 
office as a world-messenger. I have not in 
mind the occasional preaching of a missionary 
sermon, but the general tone of all our preach- 
ing. Every pulpit in our denomination should 
be made to echo every Sunday with the great 
permission and privilege of giving the gospel 
to others, until our people will go away from 
every service feeling that their chief business 
is to preach the gospel to the whole creation. 
If the membership will not read missionary 
literature, then the pastor ought to give out 
fifty-two Sundays in the year such missionary 
information and enthusiasm that will stir up 
any congregation, dying or dead, to a sense of 

92 



The Pastor the Pivotal Man 

its responsibility. No generation of men ever 
had a finer opportunity for usefulness and 
power than the ministry of to-day. "The 
world is before us, with all its gates ajar." 
Unless our people are marching out with 
steady tread, radiant in the joy of self-giving 
life, to save the lost in the farthest regions, 
we may well ponder whether our work as pas- 
tors is not, after all, largely a failure. 

Doctor Mateer has significantly said: 
"When a missionary gospel is preached in the 
pulpit, then the people will give, and their 
sons and daughters will go." Raymond Lull 
dedicated his life to the Mohammedans under 
the influence of a powerful sermon by an 
unnamed friar. 

When Henry Martyn was a student at 
Cambridge, he received his first missionary 
impulse from a sermon by the university 
preacher, and the fire then kindled in his heart 
burned at white heat until his spirit went home 
to God. Some time ago, after a sermon in 
which the world vision was magnified, one of 
the young people of my congregation, a bright 
student and faithful worker, came up to me 
with radiant face, while the tears flowed, and 
said : "It is all settled now. My life is on the 

93 



The Church in Earnest 

altar for service anywhere." I bowed and 
thanked God for such currents of life in my 
church, and for the sublime privilege of 
touching the world. 

The pastor zvho develops in his church a 
deepened prayer life adds untold spiritual 
power to world missions. Paul carried in his 
heart the constant supplication for all the 
saints and for the world. The pulpit prayer 
which does not, with fervency, lead the con- 
gregation of assembled worshipers into the 
presence of the One who died for all and who 
would have all saved, lacks its most vital ele- 
ment. Prayer is the greatest of God's gifts 
to the whole church. Then let it "rise like a 
fountain night and day." From the time when 
Jesus said, "Pray ye the Lord of the harvest," 
until the little group of students gathered with 
Samuel J. Mills in the memorable haystack 
intercession, until the day when David Living- 
stone went home to God from the ante-room 
of the king in his tent at Ilala, pleading for 
Africa, and until now, prayer has been one of 
the mightiest agencies in re-enforcing and 
sustaining the missionary campaign of the 
church. 

In this work it, is also true that "zvhere the 

94 



The Pastor the Pivotal Man 

treasure is there will the heart be also." When 
once people put their money into a world cam- 
paign, their hearts will beget a world vision 
and a world love. Hence it is due our 
churches that they be led to give systemat- 
ically and regularly, and that their giving ade- 
quately expresses and represents their ability 
to give. Let no one regard it beneath his 
place as a minister to work this mine of 
wealth for the enrichment of the heathen 
world and the home church. Back of a system 
of regular offerings to missions, and back of 
the special individual gifts, is usually a pastor 
aflame with missionary zeal, who preaches a 
world evangel in pentecostal power, and 
whose hand is constantly on the financial aims 
and plans of his congregation. Every pastor 
should study how to release this mighty 
dynamic of the church's unsurrendered wealth, 
and turn it into the channels of the world's 
deliverance. 

Missions are the church's supreme work. 
All should be made to feel that a great cam- 
paign is on. Let the whole church be com- 
pletely organized and enlisted for world con- 
quest. Every department must be lined up to 

95 



The Church in Earnest 

"go," in money, in intercession, in work, and 
in life. 

The Christ of God is our perfect ideal for 
the missionary pastor and the missionary. 
How his heart yearned in bleeding compassion 
for the shepherdless race! He was God's first 
missionary. Scarcely had he begun his work 
when the wicked heathen crucified him. But 
his life was freely given. Close to him stands 
Saul of Tarsus, who is also called Paul. What 
a missionary heart St. Paul had ! After nine- 
teen centuries we can still feel it throb. His 
spirit was daily pained by the world's desola- 
tion. Upon him weighed Asia Minor, Greece, 
Rome; and still the "regions beyond" beck- 
oned him on. There is much to inspire us. 
Our denominational history is radiant with 
missionary triumph. Otterbein, who loved 
his home and native land, the American con- 
tinent and the world, has bequeathed to the 
Church his love and his consecration. The 
blood of our martyred missionaries on foreign 
shores, and of those whose ashes rest in the 
climes they loved, has doubly and forever 
sanctified their consecration. I fancy their 
sainted spirits are among us now as attendants 
from heaven, and with them they have brought 

96 



The Pastor the Pivotal Man 

the lands for which they gladly died. Among 
us are still some of the first heroes of the cam- 
paign. Amid such influences may our lives be 
dedicated anew to so glorious a warfare. For 
the story must be told. Arise, O church of 
the living God, and shine, for through Christ, 
the Savior, Teacher, King, and through him 
alone, the blind and weary of earth, the lost 
and ruined race, shall reach at last the gates 
of gold. 



97 



Praget t&e &up«me jfactot 

S. S. Hough 

Secretary of Foreign Missionary Society 



Every Christian may release five factors of 
power to bring the world back to God : 

1. The Power of a Life. The whole per- 
sonality is a living epistle, known and read of 
all we meet. Hence, a sincere, loyal Christian 
life is a constant witness for God. 

2. The Power of Acts. By deeds of jus- 
tice and kindness, small or great, performed 
day by day, for Jesus' sake, one not only 
strengthens his own personal life, but releases 
a power on other lives that uplifts, changes 
the social atmosphere, and wins confidence. 

3. The Power of Words. When confi- 
dence has been established, when we have 
earned a hearing through well-doing, our 
words will have great power. By words of 
personal testimony and invitation, our friends, 
one by one, can be brought to Christ. Every 
Christian should study his associates, all 
through life, with a view to bringing to bear 
upon their lives, in full measure, the three- 

98 



Prayer the Supreme Factor 

fold power of a pure life, noble deeds, and 
words seasoned with grace, to the end that all 
may be saved and led into active Christian 
service. 

4. The Power of Gifts. Money is power. 
Through gifts we may release a power that 
will work mightily for God in America, or in 
the uttermost parts of the earth. One man 
gave $100,000 for gospel work in one district 
of India. As a result, missionaries were sup- 
ported, churches organized, chapels built, and 
in twenty years fifty thousand idolaters ac- 
cepted Christ as Savior. Was not that a splen- 
did way to release the power of money? 

5. Prayer the Supreme Factor. The 
greatest contribution any Christian can make 
to the saving of the world is through prayer. 
Through vital prayer the personal life of the 
believer is renewed day by day with energy 
from God. Back of noble deeds, inspiring 
words, and consecrated gifts you will find the 
upward look of prayer. 

But it is not the power of prayer as a work- 
ing force in the personal life that I desire to 
emphasize at this time. It is the power of 
prayer, not for ourselves, but for others — the 
intercessory prayer. Our Lord and King. 

99 



The Church in Earnest 

after his sacrifice for sin, ascended to the 
right hand of God, and there "he ever liveth 
to make intercession for us/' Christ is living 
and intensely active, and from the position of 
supreme authority and power he is adminis- 
tering his great saving work for the whole 
world by receiving from the Father the Holy 
Spirit and all spiritual blessing, and bestow- 
ing them for the equipment of his followers 
in service, and for repentance and remis- 
sion of sins. (Acts 5:31, 32.) And he is 
"from henceforth expecting till his enemies 
be made his footstool." In an important 
sense, all that Christ did while here on earth 
was but a preparation for his present, vital, 
and glorious work of intercession. 

Again and again our Lord emphasized the 
fact that his followers are called also to this 
supremely important work of intercessory 
prayer. Just before he departed, he gave this 
promise : "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he 
that believeth on me, the works that I do shall 
he do also, and greater works than these shall 
he do; because I go unto the Father. And 
whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will 
I do, that the Father may be glorified in the 

100 



Prayer the Supreme Factor 

Son. If ye ask anything in my name, that 
will I do." (John 14 : 12-14, R. V.) 

God's Will Discerned Through Prayer 

It is through prayer and the study of the 
Word that the will of God concerning the 
work he wants done is made known to us. 
God's purpose to give the gospel to the Gen- 
tiles was revealed to Peter when he went up 
upon the housetop to pray. The church at 
Antioch was fasting and praying when the 
Holy Ghost said, "Separate me Barnabas and 
Saul for the work whereunto I have called 
them/' and thus the great missionary move- 
ment was born. 

Recently the writer, in making a journey 
from New York to Porto Rico, was delayed 
by a storm at sea. Attempts were made by 
passengers on the steamer to send wireless 
messages to friends on the island, but for 
some reason no one was in the "receiving 
station" at San Juan, to hear the faint ticks of 
the instrument announcing the message. 
After several hours of waiting, the operator 
triumphantly reported, "We are now in com- 
munication with San Juan." 

Our Heavenly Father has many messages 

101 



The Church in Earnest 

he desires to send to his children concerning 
his work in all parts of the world, and he has 
a perfect way by which he can get into com- 
munication with every one who enters the 
"closet of prayer/' the "receiving station," 
and shuts out every voice but the one from 
above. (Matt. 6:6.) 

Hence, listening for God's voice is an im- 
portant part of prayer. It is more necessary 
that we should hear what God has to say to 
us than that he should hear what we have to 
say to him. Our Lord Jesus himself is direct- 
ing this marvelous work from the throne of 
God, and while we are in vital communion 
with him, the Spirit of God speaks to us his 
message, and "he will show you things to 
come." Through prayer we get light on what 
God wants us to do, and conviction, courage, 
and grace to do the will of God when we 
know it. "We can do more than pray after 
we have prayed, but we cannot do more until 
we have prayed." 

God Works When We Pray 

Some one has said that by praying, a Chris- 
tian can project his life as a working force to 
the ends of the earth. There is something 

102 






Prayer the Supreme Factor 

better than that. God works when we pray. 
Only by the application of divine power can 
the world be brought back to God. It is not 
our working that is the telling factor ; it is the 
working of Christ himself that wins the vic- 
tories. A startling truth is this, that the Son 
of God has placed at our disposal the omnip- 
otent power of the Spirit and his own life, to 
be called into action through prayer. The 
very life and power of Christ are released on 
the unsolved problems of the world's evan- 
gelization when the Christian believer, in 
vital, intercessory prayer, asks in accordance 
with the will of God. We have a God "which 
zvorketh for him that waiteth for him." (Isa. 
64:4, R. V.) Christ declared, "If ye ask, 
... I will do!' We glorify God when we 
make it possible for him to do great things. 

King Asa thus glorified God in his day, and 
the record is : "Were not the Ethiopians and 
the Lubim a huge host, with chariots and 
horsemen exceeding many? Yet, because 
thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them 
into thine hand. For the eyes of the Lord run 
to and fro throughout the whole earth, to 
show himself strong in the behalf of them 
zchose heart is perfect toward him." (II. 

103 



The Church in Earnest 

Chron. 16:8, 9.) And this intercessory pray- 
ing, though of the highest order, can be done 
by all those who are sincere, obedient Chris- 
tians, though tempted and tried. 

"Elijah was a man of like passions with us, 
and he prayed fervently that it might not 
rain, and it rained not on the earth for three 
years and six months ; and he prayed again ; 
and the heavens gave rain, and the earth 
brought forth her fruit." 

Objects for World-Wide Intercession 

For whom and for what shall we pray? 
To pray with power, we must pray for some- 
thing. Prayer should be offered for mission- 
ary workers. There are three classes : 

1. Foreign Missionaries. God alone knows 
the persons who are fitted for this service, 
that requires such distinguished ability, such 
deep spirituality, and such practical efficiency ; 
and God must give them. Hence, our Lord 
commands his church, "Pray ye therefore 
the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth 
laborers into his harvest." An adequate 
supply of God-called missionaries is condi- 
tioned on the fidelity of the church in prayer. 

2. Native Laborers. The ultimate aim of 

104 






Prayer the Supreme Factor 

the foreign missionary work is to establish a 
native church that shall become, as soon as 
possible, self-supporting, self-extending, and 
self-directing. How supremely important that 
prayer be offered to God for the calling forth 
of the right kind of efficient native pastors, 
teachers, and evangelists, who are to lay the 
foundation for centuries of Christian work in 
our foreign fields ! 

3. Missionary Workers in the Home Land. 
Prayer should be offered also for God to call 
forth and equip the kind of pastors needed to 
supply all the home churches with efficient, 
broad-minded, spiritual leadership. The work 
of God is stalling in many of the churches of 
the home land. Every pastor should regard 
his church as a band of soldiers to capture 
the community for Christ, and as a spiritual 
dynamo whose influence, through prayer and 
generous giving, should reach the remotest 
corners of this ruined world. No Christian 
can do a greater work than to pray prevail- 
ingly for his pastor, and work loyally by his 
side, that his own church may be brought into 
such a position of privilege and power. 

We must not stop praying when the mis- 
sionaries are on the field, and the equipment 

105 



The Church in Earnest 

has been supplied, and the native workers 
placed — all of this is but the beginning of the 
spiritual conquest. God forbid that we should 
cease to pray as the battle grows fiercer and 
fiercer ! The victory is assured, but it can be 
won speedily and be made complete only 
through the united intercessory prayer of 
God's people. 

A faithful missionary on the firing line de- 
clares that without the prayers of the home 
church he seems like a man in water twenty 
feet deep, without any outlet to the world 
above. 

Mr. John R. Mott, after returning from a 
world missionary tour, says : "As I traveled 
up and down the non-Christian world, making 
a comparative study of the progress of 
Christ's kingdom in different sections of the 
great harvest field, the conviction became 
clear and strong that those missions which 
have had offered for them the most real 
prayer are the missions which have had the 
largest spiritual success." 

Thus, as a Christian prays for God to bless 
his own pastor, that he may lead the member- 
ship of his church to see the privilege of part- 
nership with Jesus Christ in saving the world, 

106 



Prayer the Supreme Factor 

God hears and answers, and a new evangel- 
istic and missionary impulse is seen in the 
pulpit; and it soon pervades the church. He 
prays again for God to remove the barriers 
to the work in some foreign field, and God 
beats back the powers of darkness and breaks 
down the hindrances. Thus, as he prays, God 
works. 

"Such are noble Christian workers, 

The men of faith and power, 
The overcoming wrestlers 

Of many a midnight hour; 
Prevailing princes with their God, 

Who will not be denied, 
Who bring down showers of blessing 

To swell the rising tide. 
The Prince of Darkness quaileth 

At their triumphant way, 
Their fervent prayer availeth 

To sap his subtle sway." 

To mention the names of those who have 
practiced intercessory prayer would be to call 
the roll of all who have been a spiritual power 
in the world. The Apostle Paul used, in a 
marvelous way, this supreme factor of power. 
He writes : "God is my witness that, without 

107 



The Church in Earnest 

ceasing, I make mention of you always in my 
pray erf 

David Livingstone, the prince of modern 
missionaries, who opened up the great interior 
of the "Dark Continent" to the gospel of 
Jesus Christ, lived in the atmosphere of inter- 
cession, and died on his knees in the heart of 
Africa. On June 14, 1856, away up the Zam- 
bezi River, he prayed : "O Jesus, grant me 
entire reliance on thy powerful hand. On 
thy word alone I lean. But, wilt thou permit 
me to plead for Africa? This cause is thine. 
What an impulse zvill be given to the idea that 
Africa is not open if I perish now! See, 
Lord, how the heathen rise up against me, as 
they did to thy Son. I commit my zvay unto 
thee. I trust also in thee that thou wilt 
direct my steps. Thou givest wisdom liber- 
ally to all who ask thee — give it to me, my 
Father. I cast myself and all my cares down 
at thy feet! Thou knowest all I need for 
time and for eternity. 33 

Shall we not now cease to offer the inter- 
mittent prayer, and henceforth begin to pray 
without ceasing? 



108 






append i% A 






The Weekly Offering for Missions and Other 
Benevolences 

No subject is receiving more thoughtful 
attention, at this time, in the Protestant 
churches of Canada and the United States, 
than that of a workable, efficient system for 
the securing of the money needed for mis- 
sions, church erection, education, and other 
benevolences. Those who advocate a weekly 
system of offerings for these benevolences 
give the following reasons for its introduc- 
tion : 

1. It is the Scriptural method. Paul had 
instructed the churches of Galatia to lay aside 
weekly an offering for benevolence, and he 
sought to introduce the same system in the 
church at Corinth, saying : "As I gave order 
to the churches of Galatia, so also do ye. 
Upon the first day of the week let each one of 
you lay by him in store, as he may prosper, 
that no collections be made when I come!' 
(I. Cor. 16:1, 2, R. V.) 

109 



The Church in Earnest 






2. The bringing of an offering to the Lord 
every week, for others, educates the contrib- 
utor to regard giving as an act of worship; 
and when the giving of the church becomes a 
recognized part of its worship, the spiritual 
life of the members will be deepened and its 
income increased. 

3. The weekly offering for missions and 
other benevolences is a recognition that this 
work is not a side issue, but the work for 
which the church was constituted. It puts the 
gifts for others on a similar plane with the 
gifts for the local work, indicating that we 
love our neighbors as ourselves. 

4. Thousands of dollars are now lost an- 
nually to the benevolent work of the church 
because of the haphazard way of giving that 
prevails in many congregations. There is no 
lack of money; what is lacking is knowledge, 
love, prayer, and a better system of giving. 
Moreover, too much time and energy of the 
pastors are consumed when numerous ap- 
peals have to be made ; and then, usually, not 
more than one-half of the enrolled members 
are enlisted in giving to the various be- 
nevolent interests. Many a church-member, 
knowing that the end and aim of each appeal 

110 



Appendix A 

is to be a collection, assumes, perhaps uncon- 
sciously, an attitude of resistance to the 
appeal, complains of the /'everlasting beg- 
ging'' ; and some make this an excuse for 
staying away altogether on such occasions. 

On the other hand, where the weekly-offer- 
ing system has been faithfully tried, after it 
has been thoroughly introduced, the pastors 
have been relieved of the numerous appeals, 
and have more time to devote to soul-winning, 
and the educational and training agencies nec- 
essary for the enrichment of the lives of their 
members, and for making them efficient in 
service ; and the congregations have increased 
their contributions to missions and other be- 
nevolences from fifty to five hundred per cent, 
over the amount given in years when no regu- 
lar system was in vogue. 

A System for Local Needs 

In many churches the first step toward a 
better order of things financially will be the 
careful instruction of their members in the 
principles of stewardship. It would be an 
excellent thing if each pastor would select a 
good book on tithing and Christian steward- 
ship, and arrange with the stewards of his 

111 






The Church in Earnest 

local church, Sunday-school teachers, and 
other official members to meet with him once 
a week, for a period of five or more weeks, 
for a prayerful study of this important sub- 
ject. 

When the class has finished this study, a 
public presentation of the subject to the 
whole congregation, when the members of the 
class could be given an important part on the 
program, would doubtless result in creating a 
splendid atmosphere for the introduction of a 
system of offerings. 

The "regions beyond" of great importance 
to every minister and wide-awake layman in 
the home land, are the regions of undeveloped 
talents and means in our home churches. The 
extensive work for God in the world will go 
forward only in proportion as the intensive 
work is thoroughly performed in the local 
churches. It is of supreme importance that 
every church-member be led, early in the 
Christian life, to enter into partnership with 
God in the matter of his money and his 
talents. 

A new era of spiritual life will come to our 
churches when the laymen recognize that they 
are called of God to consecrate their money 

112 



Appendix A 



and business ability to the work of their Lord, 
just as surely as missionaries and ministers 
are called of God to consecrate to him their 
talents ; and, thank God, we have encouraging 
signs of the dawning of that day. 

But few congregations will consider serious- 
ly the importance of introducing a weekly 
system of giving for benevolence until they 
have recognized the importance of such a sys- 
tem to provide adequately for their local 
needs. We here present a form of pledge- 
card which has been heartily endorsed by the 
Bishops' Cabinet, and can be readily adapted 
to country charges, as well as town and city 
churches, for securing the money needed for 
local church expenses : 

THE UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST. 
For the Support of Our Local Church. 

The sum necessary to meet the current expenses of our 
local church this year, including the pastor's salary, will 
be S 

To help meet these expenses I desire to contribute the 
weekly amount under which I mark X in the space below. 

Amount Weekly for Local Expenses 





82.00 


1.00 


.75 | .50 


.35 


.25 


.15 


.10 


.05 

















Name. 



. Date_ 



Address_ 



Note.— All subscriptions are calculated on the weekly 
basis in accordance with I Cor. 16:2. However, if desired, 
the payments of this subscription may be made monthly, 
quarterly, or in cash early in the year. 

113 



The Church in Earnest 

Only by enlisting the whole membership to 
give systematically can our pastors secure 
an adequate salary, and our home-mission 
churches soon become self-supporting. One 
of our greatest needs is to provide better sal- 
aries for our pastors, and one of the greatest 
hindrances to the speedy extension of the gos- 
pel in America is the fact that a large number 
of churches depend on home missionary aid 
for many years without a proper effort on 
their part to introduce a system of offerings 
that would develop a large income of their 
own, and soon put them into the invigorating 
atmosphere of a self-supporting institution. 

The Plan Succeeds When Tried 

There are many examples in local churches 
of what can be done along the line here men- 
tioned. It required the Shoemaker Memorial 
Church at McKeesport, Pa., only a few years 
to become self-supporting. That church has 
since extended its system of giving to benevo- 
lences, and it is now supporting a "foreign 
parish" in Africa. 

The East Dayton United Brethren Church, 
after being organized only five years, re- 
quested the annual conference, a year ago, to 

114 



Appendix A 

discontinue its home missionary appropria- 
tion. Through the careful introduction of a 
weekly system of giving for local expenses, 
this splendid goal was reached in that brief 
period of years. 

A similar system of weekly offerings for 
benevolences has been introduced. Every bill 
for local expenses each month, including the 
pastor's salary, has been paid promptly, with 
a balance in the treasury. The claims for 
home missions, church erection, and educa- 
tional work for the year were all paid in full 
to the treasurer more than a month in advance 
of the annual conference, and there will be a 
surplus for these interests ; and this congrega- 
tion will be in the "heroic" standard of offer- 
ings for foreign missions. 

The pastor of this church writes: "The 
congregation has come to the conclusion that 
the weekly contribution for benevolences is 
just as scriptural and practical as the weekly 
contribution for current expenses. The de- 
velopment of the local church along other 
lines during these years is abundant proof, to 
one church at least, that systematic giving 
pays." In almost every conference there are 

115 



The Church in Earnest 

churches doing a work similar to that here 
mentioned. 

Annual Conferences Planning 

The Southeast Ohio, Miami, East Ohio, and 
Allegheny conferences have appointed compe- 
tent committees to work out carefully a sys- 
tem of offerings for local expenses, and for 
benevolences, that shall enable each church, it 
is hoped, to release a much greater power for 
God, with much less waste of energy. 

In a letter sent out to the pastors of the 
East Ohio Conference, explaining this system, 
the committee fixed the standard for foreign 
missions as follows : 

"That as $10,000 is a just proportion for 
our conference, of the $200,000 annually 
asked for by our Foreign Missionary Board, 
we pledge ourselves as a conference to reach 
this goal as soon as possible." This will mean 
a little less than an average of one dollar per 
member for the entire conference. A number 
of their charges have already reached this 
plane of giving. 

How Introduce the System? 

From six to eight weeks before the annual 
conference is the best time to introduce a new 
116 



Appendix A 

system of offerings for the coming year. On 
many charges, perhaps, a good way would be 
to plan for the weekly system for the local 
needs first. Let competent stewards be ap- 
pointed and trained for their work in advance, 
and have the subscription-cards and envelopes 
prepared, and then make a thorough canvass 
of the entire membership to secure weekly 
pledges, which can be paid weekly, monthly, 
or quarterly (as the individual may deter- 
mine) to cover all the local needs, including 
the pastor's salary. From two to four weeks 
later, a similar thorough canvass should be 
made by missionary stewards, who have been 
in training, and who have their subscription- 
cards and envelopes ready. This work should 
be done without haste, and with much prayer 
and faithfulness. The success of this plan de- 
pends almost entirely upon the conviction, 
wisdom, and perseverance of those who intro- 
duce it. 

Second Best Plan 

In case it is found impracticable to intro- 
duce a weekly system of offerings for benevo- 
lence immediately, on many fields of labor a 
method of procedure somewhat as follows will 

117 



The Church in Earnest 

bring excellent results, and will prepare the 
way, in a year or two; for such a system : 

Fix a favorable time for the consideration 
of the great foreign missionary work of the 
church ; say, within six weeks after the annual 
conference. Let the pastor preach a series of 
well-prepared sermons on Christian steward- 
ship and the marvelous growth and oppor- 
tunities of the foreign missionary work. 
Every member of the church should be sup- 
plied with missionary leaflets that will show 
the work already accomplished, and the pres- 
ent needs in the foreign fields. 

After the scope and importance of the work 
have been made clear, and definite prayer 
offered for God's guidance, subscriptions (not 
a mere collection, but actual pledges) should 
be received from all present for foreign mis- 
sions. A careful canvass should then be made 
of those who were not present, and this should 
be followed up at once with tact and perse- 
verance until every man, woman, and child 
who is a member of the church has made an 
adequate pledge to the work of foreign mis- 
sions for the whole year. At least three or 
four months 3 time should be given in which to 
make full payment of these pledges. 

118 



Appendix A 

The other great departments of benevolence 
should receive proper emphasis and presenta- 
tion at other favorable times in the year. 
On most charges, after a year or two of teach- 
ing and training in this way, when the mem- 
bership has grasped the significance and mag- 
nitude of the various benevolent interests of 
the Church, doubtless all of these departments 
can be combined, with advantage, on one sub- 
scription card, in such a way as to allow for 
the proper discrimination in the placing of in- 
dividual gifts. And thus with one canvass the 
local church will then be able to provide for 
its entire benevolent work for the year. The 
bishops of the Church have recently appointed 
a strong committee to work out in detail such 
a system for the whole Church. 

An Annual Meeting of the Local Congregation 

It will be well to arrange for an annual 
meeting at the close of the conference year, 
when the entire congregation should assemble 
to hear the reports from the various depart- 
ments of the church for the year. At this 
congregational meeting the benevolent stew- 
ards, as well as the local stewards, should 
make complete reports ; likewise, the church 

119 



The Church in Earnest 

treasurer should present to the congregation 
his report for the year. This meeting will 
afford an excellent opportunity for a brief in- 
spirational address, and the approval of aims 
and methods of work for the coming year by 
the congregation. 

Only a small percentage of the members of 
some churches are acquainted with the work 
their own church is doing. How can we ex- 
pect such persons to be interested? Through 
this annual meeting the entire membership is 
taken into consultation, with a view to carry- 
ing forward the whole work of the church, 
and this can be made one of the most inter- 
esting and profitable meetings of the entire 
year. 

Fuel to Keep the Fire Burning 

A system of offerings for both local needs 
and for benevolences is the ideal ; but, good as 
that system is, it will not run of itself. There 
must be divine power to keep the machinery 
in motion and to accomplish the end in view. 
The love of Christ and interest in the world's 
redemption must ever be present to stimulate 
and guide the giving. Congregations must be 
kept acquainted with the work to be done, and 

120 



Appendix A 

with the work already done, if there is to be 
an ever-fresh interest. In addition to a sys- 
tem that can be adapted from time to time to 
changing circumstances, there must be inspi- 
ration, instruction, and very much fervent 
praying, and God will give the increase. 



121 



&ppnrtui B 



*Helpful Missionary Books and Supplies 

FOR PASTORS. 

The Pastor and Modern Missions, by John 

R. Mott, cloth $1 00 

The Chnrch and Missionary Education, Pitts- 
burg Convention Report, (A limited 
number) 1 00 

Prayer for Missions, a pamphlet, by Profes- 
sor Warneck 05 

The Non-Christian Religions Inadequate, a 

pamphlet, by Robert E. Speer 05 

Forward Mission Study Library No. 10. Just 
off the press, especially valuable for 
pastors. Write for descriptive circular. 
Publishers' price of these ten books 
separately $9.75, but in this uniformly 
cloth-bound set for only 5 00 

MISSION STUDY BOOKS. 

Our Foreign Missionary Enterprise, by Bishop 

Mills, Drs. Funk and Hough. 
The Why and How of Foreign Missions, by Dr. 

Arthur J. Brown. 
The Uplift of China. By Arthur H. Smith. 
Daybreak in the Dark Continent. A study of 

Africa, by W. S. Naylor. 
The Christian Conquest of India. By James M. 

Thoburn. 
Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom. A Study of 

Japan, by J. H. DeForest. 
The Molsem World. By S. M. Zwemer. 
Uganda's White Man of W T ork. By Mrs. S. L.. 

Fahs. A thrilling biography of Alexander 

Mackay. "Written especially for boys and 

girls 12 to 16 years of age. 
What Shall I Do? By Robert E. Speer. (Off the 

press September, 1908.) A series of brief 

biographies of great interest to young men 

and young women, from 16 to 20 years of 

age. 
Prices of these nine books, 35 cents in paper, 50 

cents in cloth, postage 8 cents extra. Helps 

for the leader free. 

122 



Appendix B 



Africa for Juniors, by Katharine R. Crowell . 25 
China for Juniors, by Katharine R. Crowell . . 12 
Japan for Juniors, by Katharine R. Crowell . . 20 
Child Life in Mission Lands, by R. E. Diffen- 

dorfer, cloth 50 

paper 35 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL HELPS. 

Missionary Policy for the Sunday school . . . .Free 

Birthday Box Free 

A Manual of Missionary Methods for Sunday 
School Workers, with 27 charts, by 
George H. Trull, board $ 50 

Missions in the Sunday School, illustrated, by 

Martha B. Hixson, cloth 50 

paper 35 

Set of Six Colored Charts, 36 x 40 inches, 
How Americans Spend Their Money, Re- 
ligious Census of the World, Two 
Parishes, Religious Divisions of Africa, 
World Mission Progress, The Evangeliza- 
ton of the World In This Generation, 
edges bound with cloth 1 25 

The Missionary Speaker, 250 selections suit- 
able for recitations 25 

Juvenile Missionary Library, Ten splendid 
volumes for boys and girls, expressage 
extra, 5 00 

Missionary Program No. 1 35 

A set of six programs acompany charts. 
Topics: Among the Teepes, Daybreak 
in the Dark Continent, Letters from a 
Christian Chinese, In the Land of Zenana, 
Two Signs in Japan, Great Words from 
Great Pioneer Missionaries. 

Missionary Programs No. 2 75 

Set of 6 Large Pictures 25 x 30 inches, 
for platform use. Subjects: Foreign — 
The Dog That Preached the Missionary 
Sermon, Burma. A Missionary at a Way- 
side Shrine, Japan. A Chinese Student, 
China. .Home — Indians and the Type- 
writer, Italian Ragpicker's Home, Boys 
of the Street. 

Full descriptive matter accompanies 
the pictures, furnishing basis for a Mis- 
sionary talk. 

Missionary Object Lessons, each set 1 50 

One set on Japan and one on Africa, 
Material for ten or twelve lessons. 
Deals with home life, occupations, 
worship, etc. Has descriptive manual. 

123 



The Church in Earnest 

Japan Picture Cards, (per set of 12) Des- 
cription of pictures on reverse side. 

LEAFLETS OX CHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP. 
The Holy Spirit in the Church's Finances, 

by Bishop Weekley, 1 cent each, per 

hundred 75 

Money and the Gospel, by Secy. Hough. 2 

cents each, per hundred by mail 1 25 

What We Owe and the Results of Paying 

it, by Layman, per hundred 1 50 



* These supplies may be ordered from the Foreign 
Missionary Society, 1003 L\ B. Big.. Dayton, 
Ohio, or from the U. B. Publishing House, 
Dayton, Ohio. 



124 



NOV 2 1908 









